An hour had passed when Erling Haaland emerged from the Norway dressing room, his hair in a bun, flip flops on his feet, looking a little weary as he was led out of Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium and into a marquee for his final post-match inquisition of the World Cup.These are the moments when we see the game’s idols at their most vulnerable. The memory endures of seeing Lionel Messi trudging through a post-match mixed zone looking haunted after Argentina were knocked out of the 2010 World Cup and of Cristiano Ronaldo fighting back the tears after various disappointments with Portugal. In Atlanta last week, Mohamed Salah and his Egypt team-mates walked out of the stadium in shocked silence.And Haaland? Pretty soon he was smiling and joking and describing the previous month as the greatest adventure of his life. Norway’s 2-1 defeat by England in the World Cup quarter-final hurt — as did the dead leg that cut short his involvement in extra time — but even by this stage on Sunday evening, his overriding emotion was pride.He was asked about the game and various talking points before someone asked him how it felt to be Erling Haaland right now after scoring seven goals in Norway’s first World Cup this century, after sinking Brazil in the previous round, after a tournament that has seen him, in terms of global profile, make the jump from one of the biggest stars in European football to one of the most famous faces on the planet.“Quite nice, I would say so,” he said with a smile. “I’m quite happy with my life. I’m enjoying it. I’m in a good place. And … I mean, it’s kind of difficult to take in the kind of …. show or rollercoaster that we have been in now for the last six weeks. There has been so much pressure, so much feeling. It has been … unreal, honestly.“It has been the best weeks and the best journey I’ve had in my entire life. It’s hard to take it in right now; you get a little empty. If I try to think quickly through these 40 days, it has been absolutely insane, the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of. And I think all Norwegians also really appreciate it. I hope it has brought people together. We should be proud … but at the same time, learn from this.”Erling Haaland congratulates his friend and former Dortmund teammate Jude Bellingham (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)Haaland said that he felt the World Cup experience “changes Norway … and it changes me”. He didn’t elaborate on how it had changed him — he was in and out of the post-match mixed zone in about seven minutes — but he looked utterly enchanted by the whole experience.So many players go into a World Cup wide-eyed, full of hopes and dreams, and leave it a few weeks later feeling utterly crushed. That can be particularly so when a world-class player is portrayed as carrying the expectations of a nation on his shoulders alone.This World Cup has been different. So many of the game’s biggest stars have thrived. Haaland has loved it: two goals in Norway’s opening game against Iraq; another two in a 3-2 victory over Senegal; a late winner to overcome Ivory Coast in the round of 32; best of all, two late goals to defeat Brazil last Sunday to secure his nation’s first World Cup quarter-final appearance. And beyond that, just the whole experience: doing the tourist thing in New York with his partner Isabel Haugseng Johansen on a day off; checking out Times Square and Katz’s Deli; enjoying white-knuckle rides at an amusement park in Texas; goofing around in a cowboy hat in downtown Dallas — not to mention his role in that Viking-inspired “rowing” ritual as Norway’s players and fans have celebrated together.