Norway’s 1998 World Cup squad is a fabled collective. They were the team that came from behind to beat tournament favourites Brazil in Marseille, a 2-1 victory ensuring progress to the knockout stages through the nerveless late penalty of Kjetil Rekdal and his yellow boots.
It was the class of Tore Andre Flo, Henning Berg and Oyvind Leonhardsen, regulars in the top 10 of FIFA’s world rankings under their eccentric head coach Egil Olsen.
That group also remain the last Norwegian men’s side to reach a World Cup finals, but room will soon need to be made on that pedestal for a new golden generation.
Norway could hardly be closer to qualification for next summer’s tournament in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. A resounding 5-0 victory over Israel on Saturday evening leaves them needing a win and a draw from their remaining two games of Group I to be mathematically certain. Such is their remarkable goal difference of plus 26, a victory at home to Estonia on November 13 ought to ensure they cannot be caught by Italy, their final opponents in Milan and the nation that ended Norway’s adventures in France 27 years ago.
Head coach Stale Solbakken, a midfielder in that 1998 squad, was careful with his words at the Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo on Saturday, as was Erling Haaland, scorer of yet another international hat-trick. “I don’t think I want to answer too much on that,” Haaland told TV 2 after the game when asked about how close qualification was. “We will try to win the next match.”
This Norway, flawless to now, surely will. All six of their qualifiers have been won, with their 29 goals scored making them Europe’s most prolific team by a distance. Haaland, somehow, has a dozen of them, scoring at least one in every game.
Even without their injured captain Martin Odegaard, who watched on from the stands against Israel, Norway have developed a formidable strength in coming this close.
Injured Martin Odegaard could not play on Saturday (FREDRIK VARFJELL/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)
As well as Haaland, their generational talent, there are the Premier League regulars in Sander Berge (Fulham), Kristoffer Ajer (Brentford) and Oscar Bobb (Manchester City). They also boast Antonio Nusa, the rapid 20-year-old winger with RB Leipzig, and Alexander Sorloth of Atletico Madrid. Wolverhampton Wanderers’ forward Jorgen Strand Larsen, who attracted bids up to £55million from Newcastle United this summer, is currently considered little more than a back-up option.
Two dispiriting qualification campaigns for the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024 have shown recent fallibilities in a group littered with youth, but this has the feel of a different Norway under Solbakken. Israel’s head coach Ran Ben Shimon said afterwards that he now considered Saturday’s opponents to be alongside Euro 2024 winners Spain as the best two national teams in Europe. All that vast potential was shown to be crystallising on an evening that had been dominated by political tensions between the two countries.
“It would mean a lot, of course,” Sorloth told reporters after the rout of Israel. “We haven’t been in a Championship for a long, long time. That’s our only focus now; Estonia next. Hopefully then we can celebrate and go to Italy with a trip to America in the bag.”
Sorloth’s father, Goran, was part of Norway’s squad at the 1994 World Cup in the U.S, along with Alf-Inge Haaland, dad to Erling. That team beat Mexico 1-0 but exited at the groups by the cruel metric of goals scored. “It must have been an amazing experience,” the Atletico forward added. “That’s what we’re hoping for as well.”
Sorloth was two and a half the last time Norway featured at a World Cup but Haaland, the country’s poster boy, did not come along until the weeks after Euro 2000, his country’s last appearance at a major tournament.
It grows impossible to tell the story of Norway’s modern revival without Haaland at its heart and Saturday was no different. Despite missing two early penalties as stand-in captain, with the first ordered to be retaken after encroachment into the area, the centre-forward recovered to finish smartly in between two Israel own goals, before then nodding in two second-half headers for 5-0. It is now 21 goals in 12 appearances for club and country this season for Haaland, who is also the quickest player to arrive at a half-century of international goals.
“I stopped getting surprised many years ago,” said team-mate Sorloth. “When he steps on the pitch, he always scores. He’s like a robot when it comes to scoring goals.
“He’s really important. Not just the goals he scores, he takes a lot of responsibility up front. They have to put at least two defenders on him, which makes room for me and Nusa and Bobb.”
Norway next welcome New Zealand to Oslo in a friendly tomorrow, the same night that Italy host Israel. Qualification could come quickly for Norway should Italy fall to a shock defeat in Udine but any doubts over Haaland, Odegaard and company being at next summer’s World Cup are already fast receding. Norway, be sure, are coming.