MILAN: Norway qualified for their first World Cup since 1998 after Erling Haaland struck again in a 4-1 thumping of Italy on Sunday which sealed a spot in next summer’s finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Haaland scored the decisive brace in the space of seconds at a soaking San Siro for Norway, who completed Group I with a perfect 24 points from their eight qualifying matches.
Norway would have had to lose by nine goals or more in order to be overtaken by Italy for the group’s only automatic place for next summer’s finals in North America, but Stale Solbakken’s side ended their campaign in glorious fashion in front of 70,000 people.
However, Solbakken was coy as to his powerful team’s chances now that a 28-year weight has come to an end.
“Let’s see the draw first… I haven’t even thought about it. For me, it (tonight) was to go from 99 percent to 100 percent and now we have done it in a great way,” Solbakken told reporters.
“Let’s see what the draw brings before we go into those questions.”
And the Manchester City striker, called a “goal machine” by Solbakken, will be one of the players to watch in North America after smashing in 16 goals during qualifying. – AFP
