The clip was not intended as football content, but the comments soon moved away from braids. Users called Willman Haaland’s sister, compared her with a female version of the Manchester City forward and joked about Norway’s tournament performances.
Willman made clear that the attention had arrived on a scale she did not expect. “In light of the World Cup, I swear if I get one more comment saying that I look like Erling Haaland,” she said.
The comparison also revived an older lookalike preference. “Can’t we just go back to when you guys were calling me Zara Larsson, please?” Willman added, while stressing that she was “very much just a little girl from Charleston.”
Eventually, the joke reached Haaland himself. The striker appeared in the comments and replied, “Hi” with a thumbs-up emoji.
It was a characteristically brief response, but the decision to join the joke rather than ignore it gave the moment another lift. Willman said the reaction had also brought a sharp rise in attention to her own social media accounts.
The comments kept blending appearance and football, with users joking that Willman had scored against Brazil or helped eliminate them. None of it was serious, but it showed how quickly a tournament storyline can escape the pitch.
Behind the meme, Haaland remains central to Norway’s historic World Cup campaign. The national team has reached the quarter-finals for the first time, with the forward playing a prominent role in that run.
For now, the lookalike joke has given supporters a lighter way to discuss Norway’s progress. The next chapter will be decided on the pitch, where Haaland and Norway face the pressure of a quarter-final rather than another viral comment section.