France midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni suggested it was a bit of mind games; former England striker and now pundit Gary Lineker said that maybe he had learned something from his boss at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola. Either way, Norway striker Erling Haaland caused controversy with his comment that he "didn't care" about his side's final group game against France, with both teams already qualified for the knockouts.
But those closest to Haaland insist it was not intended to be disrespectful. Rather, it was a glimpse into his mindset at this World Cup. Essentially: nothing to lose, nothing to fear.
Haaland is in a different place to some of the other stars at this tournament. Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, VinÃcius Júnior, Harry Kane and Lamine Yamal have all come here to win. Haaland isn't here to lose -- far from it -- but expectations on Norway are not the same as those on Argentina, Portugal, France, Brazil, England and Spain.
In a pre-tournament interview with ESPN, the 25-year-old admitted he had barely looked at Norway's group. The reason? The pressure to qualify for the first time since 1998 was so great that anything beyond that was "a bonus."
"To qualify was the big thing," Gunnar Halle, part of the last Norway squad to qualify in 1998, tells ESPN. "We haven't qualified since 1998 so to qualify again, the nation wanted another World Cup. It's big."
In Haaland's eyes, getting his country back onto the world stage for the first time in nearly three decades was the primary goal. Now he's here, he can play with a freedom that perhaps Messi, Mbappé and the rest don't share. Those players need to lift the trophy in New Jersey on July 19 for this summer to be a success; Haaland would argue that he's already achieved what he set out to.
It's what makes Haaland and Norway so dangerous as they head into the knockout rounds and a round of 32 tie against the Ivory Coast in Dallas on June 30.
In another part of Haaland's controversial interview following the 3-2 win over Senegal in the second group game, he said Norway would "probably lose" against France. It's the type of quote he would never get away with if he was doing media duties before a game for City, while captain Martin Ødegaard would be run out of town if he dared say something similar while playing for Arsenal.
At their club teams -- two of the biggest in the world -- there's a pressure on Haaland and Ødegaard to win every time they walk onto the pitch. So in that regard, this World Cup campaign is a change of pace. And Haaland, in particular, seems to be enjoying it.
He posted a video on social media of him walking anonymously through the streets of Manhattan and managed to convince one unsuspecting American woman he was Norway's "social media guy," rather than one of the best strikers in the world. He also took part in a gameshow-style segment for a TV programme with James Cordon where he was asked to dig through a ball pit. And he did it with a smile.
At Man City, Haaland can sometimes look frustrated, especially when exceptionally high standards aren't being met. But since arriving in the U.S. he's appeared relaxed and happy. That's good news for Norway and bad news for defenders.
History suggests that playing with no pressure can help at a World Cup. In 2002, Turkey returned after an absence of 48 years and reached the semifinals; in 1998, Croatia did the same after qualifying for the first time as an independent nation.
After finishing second in Group I, Norway are on the same side of the draw as Brazil and Argentina, but even those teams will not be taking Haaland, Ødegaard and Co. lightly. A potential meeting with Messi in the quarterfinals would see Haaland come up against the man who beat him to the Ballon d'Or in 2023.
"The team we have now is with some of the players who are doing really well in the big clubs," Halle says. "The Norwegian people are always optimistic. I think we could definitely go to a quarterfinal; a semifinal would be amazing. It depends who you meet, and having no injuries, but we can surprise everybody."
Pre-tournament doubts about Norway's defense have not gone away, particularly after the team conceded two relatively soft goals against Senegal in a game they should have won comfortably. There is, though, nothing to read into the 4-1 defeat to France after head coach Stale Solbakken left Haaland and Ødegaard on the bench as part of 10 changes to his XI.
While Ousmane Dembélé was wreaking havoc for France in Boston with a first-half hat trick, Solbakken had his eyes firmly on their next game in the knockouts.
Despite Haaland scoring four goals in two games and Ødegaard looking back to his genial best in midfield, Norway are only 10th on the list of possible winners by the bookmakers. That, though, is exactly how they like it.
Haaland set out to give a generation of Norway football fans the World Cup experience he never had as a child. The supporters who have travelled to North America in their thousands have enjoyed celebrating with their distinctive "Viking Row" everywhere from Christopher Columbus Park in Boston to Times Square in New York.
Memories have already been made; expectations for Haaland and his team already met. They head into the round of 32 without the weight of pressure on their shoulders. And that should worry everyone else.
