Erling Haaland double sends Norway to first World Cup since 1998; Italy pushed to play-offs

Norway qualified for their first World Cup since 1998 after a 4-1 win over Italy on Sunday, with Erling Haaland scoring twice to confirm their place in next summer’s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.Haaland scored both of his goals within seconds at San Siro, as Norway finished Group I with 24 points from eight matches.Before the match, Norway would have needed to lose by nine goals or more for Italy to overtake them for the group’s only automatic World Cup spot. Instead, Stale Solbakken’s team ended their campaign with a win in front of 70,000 spectators.Solbakken did not make any predictions about Norway’s chances at the World Cup."Let's see the draw first... I haven't even thought about it. For me, it (tonight) was to go from 99 percent to 100 percent and now we have done it in a great way," Solbakken told reporters, as quoted by news agency AFP."Let's see what the draw brings before we go into those questions."Haaland’s father Alf-Inge was still an international player when Norway last played in a World Cup 27 years ago, a tournament won by France.

Solbakken described Haaland as a "goal machine". The striker will be one of the key players in North America after scoring 16 goals in qualifying. The 25-year-old has more than a goal per match for club and country this season. He scored goals in the 78th and 79th minutes.Italy had taken the lead through Pio Esposito in the 11th minute. Antonio Nusa equalised for Norway in the 63rd minute, and Jorgen Strand Larsen scored in stoppage time to make it 4-1.Italy finished six points behind Norway and will go to the play-offs in March after losing both matches to Solbakken’s team. Many home fans left early, and those who stayed whistled as the match ended.Coach Gennaro Gattuso apologised to fans during his interview with RAI and spoke about the team’s problems."It's worrying, I'd be a liar to say that it doesn't concern me, because when you have nights like this it's much easier if you can stay together, improve the day to day," said Gattuso, as cited by news agency AFP."What worries me is that we'll next see each other in three months' time."Italy’s qualification campaign was affected from the start after a 3-0 loss to Norway, which led to Luciano Spalletti’s exit as coach.Italy have played better under Gattuso but still lack a player of Haaland’s level, a shame for a country which has produced some of the game's best-ever players..Italy did not qualify for the last two World Cups after play-off defeats to Sweden and North Macedonia, the latter coming less than a year after they won Euro 2021.