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Erling Haaland may be the finisher, but the magic truly happens with Martin Ødegaard. This video breaks down the statistics and gameplay that prove Ødegaard is the indispensable playmaker making Norway a dark horse for the World Cup.

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Sports
Transcript
00:00If Norway are to be a dark horse for this summer's World Cup, they'll need one player to be on
00:03top
00:04form, and it's not necessarily Erling Haaland. Sure, his goal-scoring form in European qualification
00:09dragged Norway back onto the grand international stage for the first time in 28 years, and with
00:14an absurd goal-to-game ratio for club and country, he arrives as the most feared finisher on the
00:18planet, but behind him is where the magic really happens, with Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard.
00:25He is the player in the Norwegian setup who possesses the press resistance, the vision,
00:29the spatial intelligence, and the control of tempo to draw position centre-backs out of
00:34the defensive line, and slide the precise vertical passes into the box that Haaland requires.
00:40Odegaard completely ran the show in European qualification, leading all players across
00:43the continent with 25 key passes and 12 total through balls. His joint high seven assists
00:48were lethal, with four of those direct assists served up on the plate for, you guessed it,
00:53Erling Haaland. Therefore, don't be surprised to see a reality play out where Norway make it far
00:58into the tournament's latter stages. Erling Haaland easily wins the golden boot as the tournament's
01:02top scorer, and Martin Odegaard walks away with the golden ball as the official best player
01:07player of the World Cup.
01:08The World Cup.
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