What happens when one of the top soccer talents in the world plays in the most pressure-packed tournament on the planet free from any and all worry? 

An explosion of scoring and joy, it turns out. 

This is Erling Haaland’s World Cup, and we’re all just along for the ride. Haaland, the Norwegian striker with a fondness for man-buns, Viking lore, and cow heart, has scored four goals in his first two World Cup games—two against Iraq on June 16, and another pair versus Senegal on Monday. Norway won both games and has already advanced to the knockout round. 

Haaland has now scored at least one goal in each of Norway’s last dozen competitive matches. Overall, Haaland has 59 goals in 52 matches for Norway; according to StatMuse, this prolific scoring rate gives Haaland the best goal-per-match ratio by any player with more than 50 international goals in the last 100 years. 

Yes, Haaland’s superstar peers are also showing out so far at this World Cup: Lionel Messi has five goals, including a hat trick against Algeria, for Argentina. Kylian Mbappé has four for France; Cristiano Ronaldo got into the act on Tuesday, scoring his first two goals of the tournament in Portugal’s 5-1 trouncing of Uzbekistan. 

But these players face a burden that he doesn’t: national fan bases who demand World Cup titles. Sure, Messi finally won his championship with Argentina four years ago in Qatar. But that country’s soccer-mad fans are thirsting for a World Cup repeat, which hasn’t been done in 64 years. Plus, a fourth World Cup title would put Argentina just one behind its archrival, Brazil, for the most ever. France, a dynamic team that’s the betting favorite to win it all, is seeking to avenge its final loss to Argentina from 2022. And poor Harry Kane. England invented the game but infamously hasn’t won a World Cup since 1966. Kane is under immense pressure to help end this drought. Kane scored two goals in England’s opening-game win over Croatia but missed a gimme against Ghana yesterday in a 0-0 draw, sending pubs into conniption. (A Ghanaian witch doctor reportedly put a curse on Kane.)

Haaland, who plays for Manchester City on the club level, finds himself in an enviable position we rarely see in sports: an all-time superstar unencumbered by expectations. He suits up for a side, Norway, that last reached a World Cup in 1998. Just being at the World Cup is a victory. Everything else is gravy, and Haaland knows it. “Norway will never win the World Cup,” Haaland told TIME in an interview last summer. (He put the team’s chances at 0.5%.) Granted, Haaland said this before Norway won four more World Cup qualifying matches to finish a flawless 8-0 in its group. But remember, he still hails from a sane sports country. Norway, after all, encourages its kids to try different sports and play locally instead of traveling across the country to youth tournaments. Norwegians don’t even keep score for its youngest kid competitions. They’re going to love Haaland no matter what. 

Norway and France, both undefeated in the World Cup so far, face each other on Friday, in Foxboro, Mass., for Group I supremacy. Haaland vs. Mbappé, a matchup soccer nuts have been anticipating since the World Cup draw in December. Haaland’s not one of them. “I couldn’t care too much about that game now,” Haaland said after Norway’s win over Senegal. After all, Norway’s already through to the next round. Gravy. “They’re probably going to win against us,” he said. “They’re probably going to win the whole tournament.” There Haaland goes again, lowering expectations, with a gigantic smile.  

He’ll probably have a hat trick.