Double beat Italy! Won 8 consecutive victories! A small country with a population of 5.6 million goes straight to the World Cup

On November 17, Group I of the European Group Stage of the World Cup Qualifiers ushered in the final match, with Norway facing Italy away. In this game, Esposito took the lead for the Italian team and took a 1-0 lead. But in the last 30 minutes of the game, the Norwegian team launched a counterattack. Noosa scored with a blast, Harland scored two goals in 2 minutes, and Larsson scored another goal in stoppage time. In the end, Italy lost to Norway 1-4 and suffered a double defeat by their opponents. The Norwegian team won 8 consecutive victories and qualified for the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup as the first place in the group.

In this World Cup preliminaries, the Norwegian team is in Group I with Italy, Israel, Estonia and Moldova. At first, the outside world believed that the Italian team was the favorite to advance directly. As the game progressed, the Norwegian team, led by the two Premier League stars Haaland and Odegaard, became the biggest dark horse in Group I. They were on full fire in the World Cup preliminaries, winning 8 games, scoring 37 goals and conceding only 5 goals, ranking first in Group I with an absolute advantage.

Especially when facing Italy at home in the third round, the Norwegian team defeated their opponent 3-0. This victory directly laid the foundation for the Norwegian team to qualify. When facing Moldova, the weakest opponent in the group, the Norwegian team also showed its offensive strength. In two rounds, they doubled Moldova while scoring 16 goals and only conceding 1 goal. In Moldova alone, the Norwegian team had a 15-goal difference. This directly puts the Norwegian team in an invincible position under the rule of "compare the rankings with the same points and goal difference".

In the final match of the World Cup preliminaries, Norway is a guest to challenge Italy. In addition to their 3-point lead, they also have a 17-goal difference over the Italian team. In other words, unless Italy can beat Norway by 17 goals, the Norwegian team led by Haaland will directly qualify. Of course, Norway will not let this happen. Although they fell behind 0-1 at the beginning, they exploded with amazing scoring ability in the second half. Nousa, Haaland and Larsson scored 4 goals in a row, directly beating Italy at home and away, and undisputedly qualified for the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup as the first in the group.

Manchester City forward Haaland played an absolutely central role in the Norwegian team's advancement to the World Cup. He scored 16 goals in 8 games, leading the scorer list by 8 goals. Arsenal star Odegaard only played 5 World Cup qualifying games due to injury, and also scored 1 goal and 7 assists. Among them, 7 assists ranked first in the European assists list of the World Cup preliminaries. Under the leadership of the two stars of the Premier League, the Norwegian team returned to the World Cup stage after 27 years.

In 2025, Norway's officially announced population is only 5.6 million, which is even only 1/4 of Beijing's permanent population. But now, this small Nordic country with a small population has returned to the World Cup stage after 27 years of hard work. Their success is no accident.

In the Norwegian team's starting lineup, almost all 11 players come from the five major European leagues. Haaland, Bob (Manchester City in the Premier League), Serlot (Atletico Madrid in La Liga), and Nousa (RB Leipzig in Bundesliga) on the front line are all regular players in the Champions League. The midfielder includes famous players such as Odegaard (Arsenal), Sander Berg (Fulham), and Solzvet (Sassuolo).

The defense is led by Dortmund's 28-year-old Ryerson, and is composed of Wolves' Wolfe in the Premier League, Ayer from Brentford, Hegem from Bologna in Serie A, and Oestigao from Genoa. At the goalkeeper position, 35-year-old Sevilla veteran Nylander becomes Norway's main goalkeeper, and 28-year-old Watford goalkeeper Selvik is the second goalkeeper.

Such a Norwegian team, whose backbone is all from the five major leagues, can double defeat Italy in the qualifiers and win 8 consecutive games. It is also a natural progression for them to return to the World Cup after 27 years.