City Watch: Haaland shines for Norway

Since the appointment of Enzo Maresca as Manchester City’s new manager and the confirmation of Elliot Anderson’s move to the Etihad, there hasn’t been much news to discuss for this week’s edition of City Watch.

It’s a real contrast from last week where I was excited to write this column and rather dreading doing the England World Cup column; it’s completely switched around this week! 

So, for this week’s edition, I thought I’d summarise how City players are getting on at the international tournament in the States. 

I won’t cover England too much, given we have a whole column for that, but the Three Lions are of course through to the Quarter Finals, with Nico O’Reilly already proving himself to be an invaluable asset to Tuchel after a fantastic performance against Mexico, with Marc Guehi also starting and John Stones making an important cameo off the bench.

The most incredible and impactful performance so far has been Erling Haaland for Norway. 

The 25 year old was tipped to be one of the top scorers this summer, that was before Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe went and scored seven goals each before the Quarter Final.

What’s insane is that Erling matched them with seven for himself, in a Norway team that is nowhere near as strong as the French or Argentinian. 

He scored two goals in a 2-1 victory over one of the favourites Brazil, one of them being a fantastic strike from outside the box. 

As much as I’m happy for Haaland, I’m just praying he doesn’t continue that form in the game against England on Saturday!

Rodri has also been a crucial part of the Spain team that knocked out Portugal this week. 

The 30 year old hasn’t conceded a goal in over 600 minutes in this World Cup, quite an incredible record given some of the teams they’ve had to face. 

Rayan Cherki may not have been involved in the French team as much as he may like, mostly making cameos off the bench so far, but at only 22, he’ll have plenty ahead of him. 

He’s part of a stacked squad that seem to have endless options and will face Morocco in their Quarter Final.

The quiet off season continues for City, but it’s only a few weeks until the World Cup is over and pre season begins again!