“I was thinking of her!”

Norway striker Erling Haaland had a hilarious mix-up of Hollywood actress Sydney Sweeney with Marilyn Monroe during an interaction with KSI ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup clash with Senegal on Monday (June 22) in East Rutherford.

Haaland, 25, had a sparkling World Cup debut, scoring twice as the Vikings marked their return to the competition after 28 years with a 4-1 win over Iraq at Boston Stadium, Foxborough.

The Manchester City man broke the deadlock just before the half-hour mark before Aymen Hussein equalised 10 minutes later. Two minutes before half-time, Haaland’s second of the game gave Norway a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, with a Leo Ostigard strike and a Hussein own goal adding gloss to the scoreline.

Amid preparations for the Senegal game. Haaland, in a KSI YouTube video on June 20, was presented with celebrity lookalikes and asked to rate their resemblances on a scale of 1 to 10 (as per New York Post).

When a Marilyn Monroe lookalike popped up, Haaland said:

“I thought it was Sweeney at first.”

KSI played along with the mix-up and said that he was indeed refering to Sweeney, to which Haaland replied:

“I was thinking of her!”

Monroe was a popular Hollywood actress during the late 50s and early 60s, while Sweeney, 28, has starred in movies like The Housemaid and Anyone But You.

Erling Haaland lived up to Norway head coach wish in 2026 FIFA World Cup opener

Norway hitman Erling Haaland lived up to head coach Stale Solbakken’s pre-game comments that he would have an impactful performance in the 2026 FIFA World Cup opener against Iraq last week.

The Manchester City striker did indeed produce a masterful outing, scoring twice, against an Iraqi team that returned to the World Cup fold after 40 years by beating Bolivia in the intercontinental play-offs.

“Hopefully he will have a very big impact,” Solbakken had said before the Iraq game (via ANI News).

“Hopefully, we can continue to give him chances, and if you give Erling chances, he has a tendency to score. The players around him have grown because of that. So they have confidence in themselves.”

Norway had won all eight of their FIFA World Cup qualifiers in a group that had four-time champions Italy, who failed to qualify for a third straight edition, with Erling Haaland bagging 16 goals.