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The Norwegian team will qualify for the World Cup against the Netherlands, Turkey, Montenegro, Latvia and Gibraltar. Most people are happy with that giveaway.
– The first reaction is that it’s okay. We could have gotten better and we could have gotten worse. I am well satisfied, says national team coach Ståle Solbakken to VG, adding on VGTV broadcast:
– It could also have been better, with the group to Croatia, or Denmark. Holland is of course a tough nut to crack, Turkey is “Jekyll and Hyde”, Latvia and Montenegro are tough away. I think it will be exciting.
For TV 2, he describes the Netherlands as a “fierce opponent”.
One who cost a lot with the result of the tie was Alexander Sørloth. The striker was last season at Turkish Trabzonspor, where he became the top scorer with 24 goals.
– It’s like playing at home. I’m looking forward, was Sørloth’s first reaction to VG.
He is now at RB Leipzig and, in all likelihood, will be central to the team that will enter the standings starting in March.
VG updates the article.
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– This is not an impossible task, declared Bernt Hulsker when he followed the draw in the VGTV studio together with Kjetil Rekdal, the man who scored for Norway at the 1994 and 1998 World Cups.
– We avoid the most difficult teams of level 2 and this is a group with which we should be very happy, summarized the former captain of the national team.
The ten group winners qualify directly for the World Cup final. Three more spots will be awarded in a rematch featuring all group runners-up and two Nations League tournament qualifying teams.
A total of 32 nations will participate in the playoffs themselves. The Qatar World Cup will be held from November 21 to December 18, 2022. It is the high temperatures of the summer that make the championship move to the winter months.
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Norway were seeded in the third group, and the Netherlands and Turkey were already in Group G when former Italian national team star Daniele de Rossi served the ball for Norway.
In addition, Norway will face Montenegro, Latvia and Gibraltar. Montenegro were a relatively tough team in the fourth seeded group.
– The big question is if they manage to break them. They play very compact and tight-fisted and are tough, Rekdal said.
When Norway reached the World Cup in 1994, they were also in the qualifying group with the Netherlands and Turkey. Then Norway won the group ahead of the Dutch.
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These are the groups of the World Cup qualifiers:
Group A: Portugal, Serbia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan
Group B: Spain, Sweden, Greece, Georgia, Kosovo
Group C: Italy, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Lithuania
Group D: France, Ukraine, Finland, Bosnia, Kazakhstan
Group E: Belgium, Wales, Czech Republic, Belarus, Estonia
Group F: Denmark, Austria, Scotland, Israel, Faroe Islands, Moldova
Group G: Holland, Turkey, Norway, Montenegro, Latvia, Gibraltar
Group H: Croatia, Slovakia, Russia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta
Group I: England, Poland, Hungary, Albania, Andorra, San Marino
Group J: Germany, Romania, Iceland, North Macedonia, Armenia, Liechtenstein.
Not in the playoffs since 2000
Norway’s men’s team qualified for the World Cup finals in 1994 (USA) and 1998 (France). In the United States, Norway came last in the “group of death” where all teams finished with four points, while four years later they advanced from the group stage following the historic 2-1 victory over Brazil. Then there was a 0-1 defeat against Italy in the quarterfinals.
In the previous World Cup qualifier, Norway ranked fourth in the group stage against Germany, Northern Ireland, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan and San Marino.
Norway has not qualified for a championship since the European Championships in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2000.
