After a string of losses, Norway’s men’s national football team had a good long weekend. After beating Slovenia on Thursday, the team led by the already legendary Norwegian player Erling Braut Haaland literally wiped out Kazakhstan at home in Oslo Sunday evening.
With scores of 4-1 against Slovenia and 5-0 against Kazakhstan, earlier embarrassing losses like 1-5 against Austria not long ago seemed forgotten. Now there’s lots of hope both for Norway’s offense and defense, and maybe even a spot in the next World Cup.
Haaland scored three of Norway’s five goals, and Alexander Sørloth one of them, but it was the assists between Haaland and the 19-year-old Antonio Nusa that won most attention, not least Nusa’s own goal. Norway also fended off all of Kazakhstan’s attempts at scoring before nearly 20,000 cheering fans at Ullevaal Stadium, and it all ended with Norway topping its Nations League group, ahead of Austria, Slovenia and Kazakhstan.
Suddenly Norway’s football future was looking a lot better than it was just early last week, even without an injured team captain Martin Ødegaard. Head coach Ståle Solbakken was not only smiling, he was jubilant. As NRK football commentator Kristoffer Løkberg wrote after it was all over, “we must not take off and think that we’re in the World Cup because of this, but what an upturn.”
NewsinEnglish.no staff
