Italy must tremble
Haaland and Norway are almost certain to take part in the World Cup
Updated 11/13/2025 – 7:56 p.mReading time: 1 min.
Norway scores a landslide win against outsiders Estonia. In the duel with Italy, their participation in the World Cup can no longer be taken away from them.
The Norwegian national soccer team around superstar Erling Haaland has taken another big step towards World Cup qualification. In the second to last game against Estonia, the Norwegians celebrated a clear 4-1 win against Estonia. Former Bundesliga star Alexander Sørloth (50th and 52nd minute) and Haaland (56th and 62nd minute) each scored twice. Rob Saarma scored the consolation goal for the Estonians in the 64th minute.
This puts Norway at the top of their qualifying group, six points ahead of Italy. The Italians will play against Moldova in the evening and there will be a direct duel on the last match day. The Italians have to win both games and make up a total of 19 goals in the goal difference in order to reach first place, which entitles them to direct participation in the World Cup. An almost impossible task.
Italy, which did not take part in the last two World Cup tournaments, will probably have another chance in the play-offs as second. These will be drawn next Thursday in Zurich. The Italian detour via the play-offs would also be a benefit for Germany. If they qualified themselves, the DFB team would then be in the draw for the top teams and would probably avoid a difficult group at the World Cup.
The last time Norway took part in a World Cup was in France in 1998. Back then, the team even made it through the preliminary round, but was eliminated in the round of 16 against Italy (0-1). So far, Norway has taken part in a total of four World Cups.