Norway’s national men’s football team is redeeming itself, winning another World Cup qualifier on Thursday over San Marino. The Norwegians still don’t have a chance of playing in next year’s World Cup because of earlier losses, but the 8-0 victory in the small principality boosted spirits.
“We controlled the match like we should have from the start,” player Mohamed “Moi” Elyounoussi told state broadcaster NRK. “After the early scoring, we had full control.”
The final score marked a long-sought upturn, leaving Norway with a total of 16 goals in its otherwise unsuccessful World Cup qualifying round so far. Half of them came on Thursday night. Another four came when the Norwegians played against San Marino at home in Oslo last year.
One commentator noted that shows how weak Norway was against the other members of its qualifying group including Germany and the Czech Republic. The Germans humiliated Norway last month, with the Norwegians losing 6-0. They had finally won a match against Azerbaijan just a few days earlier, but their entire World Cup qualifying round has been a major disappointment in the midst of other football drama in Norway.
They could at least cheer up after the festival of goals in San Marino, which marked the biggest single victory in 25 years, according to NRK. The national team’s new coach, Lars Lagerbäck, said he was glad he didn’t “see sloppiness and lack of concentration” on the field. Now Lagerbäck needs to see the Norwegians through another match against Northern Ireland back in Oslo on Sunday, and hope it goes better than his nightmare debut as head coach last March, when Northern Ireland beat Norway 2-0.
newsinenglish.no staff
