Last week they won their seventh match in a row and this week they crushed their opponents in another World Cup qualifying match. Norway’s national football team is definitely on a roll, and attracting international attention.
The match on home turf at the national stadium in Oslo came just after Norway’s national election, and both the men’s football squad and the government chalked up remarkable victories. Norway already led against Moldova by a score of 5-0 at half-time, and ended up winning by 11-1 in front of cheering Norwegians and a demanding head coach, Ståle Solbakken. He knows that the qualification round isn’t over yet, with difficult matches still ahead against Israel at home and Italy in November, the latter of which will be played in Milan.
“The match against Israel will be a completely different challenge, also off the field,” wrote NRK sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt after Norway’s goal marathon on Tuesday. “Many understandably think Israel shouldn’t be allowed to take part in the (World Cup) qualification round, but they have been and Norway must relate to that.”
Saltvedt predicts the “atmosphere” around the match against Israel on October 11, just a day after the Nobel Peace Prize is due to be announced in Oslo, “can take the focus away from the pure sporting aspects” of the match, but it’s up to Solbakken and his team to use that as a motivating factor towards another victory.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
