Norway’s Erling Haaland traveled all the way to America seeking a World Cup championship, but he will have to settle for a stuffed raccoon.
The star scorer, who nearly single-handedly rowed his team into the semifinals, was seen getting off a plane in Norway two days after his team’s 2-1 loss to England, holding a taxidermy raccoon.
“It followed me home [raccoon emoji, crying-laughing emoji],” Haaland wrote in the caption on X.
“Erling Haaland has returned to Norway, and it looks like he brought home a $750 Whiskey Raccoon from Wild Bill’s Western Store in Dallas, Texas. What an authentic piece of American culture,” wrote sports business analyst Joe Pompliano.
Raccoons have long been seen as quintessential Americana. Benjamin Franklin wore a coonskin hat when schmoozing with Paris’s elite in search of donations to fund the American Revolution, and the furry nocturnal creature has remained firmly associated with the U.S. in many Europeans’ minds.
Texas will no doubt remain firmly etched in Haaland’s memory as well. Taxidermy raccoons aside, the Lone Star State is where he and his fellow Norwegians captured their first knockout stage win over the Ivory Coast last month.
It’s also where he took one of his more iconic photos. In which he wore a cowboy hat and shirt which read, “Y’ALL CAN KISS MY DALLAS.”
While it didn’t end the way he wanted, Haaland has nothing to hang his head about. He scored seven goals in five games and took Norway deeper into the tournament than they had ever gone before.
Now he will sit back and wonder, “What if?” while he watches England and Argentina compete for a spot in the World Cup final. But at least he will have a furry friend for company,