The first European World Cup qualifying groups have been played to the end.
Erling Haaland punished Italy with two full hits. PDO
Countries that have secured a place
Contest hosts: USA, Canada, Mexico
Europe: France, Croatia, England, Portugal, Norway
Asia: Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Uzbekistan
South America: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
Oceania: New Zealand
Africa: Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia
of Ireland Troy Parrott surely couldn’t dream of such a week.
First, on Thursday, he scored two goals in Portugal’s net, and the island nation won its first victory over the Lusitanians in 30 years.
It still wouldn’t have been enough if Ireland hadn’t beaten Hungary in the last round.
Parrott had scored the visitors’ opening goal in Budapest from a penalty kick, but Hungary still led 2-1 with ten minutes to go.
After that, Parrott scored the equalizer in the 80th minute and the extremely dramatic winning goal in the sixth minute of added time.
At the same time, Portugal went wild at the expense of Armenia to a 9–1 victory and a direct place in the World Cup.
Ireland’s Troy Parrott aired a place in the further qualification of the World Cup. PDO
However, with the last week’s jackpot, Ireland rose to second place in the group and into the next spring qualifier. Parrott scored all five of his team’s goals.
A double for Haaland
In the evening in Milan, Italy should have beaten Norway by as many as nine goals in order to overtake the fjord country in the group table.
Pio Esposito’s opening goal in the 11th minute gave a little more hope, but the second period erased them. Antonio Nusa, Erling Haaland [kahdesti] and Jørgen Strand Larsen turned the match into a 4–1 away win for Norway at San Siro.
It is the first time in history that Norway beat Italy away from home. It collected a full 24 points from eight matches and makes a spectacular return to World Cup level after a 28-year hiatus.
Norway’s goal difference of 37–5 shows the team’s ferocious firepower. Haaland’s balance alone increased to 16 full hits.
For the third time in a row, it will be Italy’s fate to fight for four bonus places. On the previous two occasions, the Azzurri have stumbled just in the second round.
England, who already secured their place in the competition, completed their series of clean games by defeating Albania Harry Kane with a double 2–0.
The direct competition spot in group D went to France. On Sunday, Ukraine grabbed Iceland’s right to dream of further qualifying success.