Striker Erling Haaland’s brace helped Norway beat Cyprus 3-1 in the fourth round and have their first victory in Group A qualifying for Euro 2024.
* Subs: Ola Solbakken 11, Erling Haaland 56 & 60 – Grigoris Castanos 90’+3
On the Ullevaal field, Oslo on the evening of June 20, Haaland kicked 87 minutes before making room for Bard Finne. During his time on the field, the Man City striker touched the ball 23 times, accurately passed 50% with a key pass, shot three times, with one blocked and scored twice.
In the 55th minute, defender Nikolas Ioannou let the ball touch his hand in the penalty area, helping Norway to receive a penalty. On the 11m mark, Haaland sank to the left corner, opposite the judgment of goalkeeper Joel Mall.
Four minutes later, the two biggest stars of Norwegian football combined to score. Martin Odegaard picked up the ball in the middle of the field and then poked a gap for Haaland to penetrate the penalty area and then kicked his left foot diagonally, completing the double.
Haaland extended his impressive goalscoring record, with 24 goals in just 25 appearances for Norway. He also closed the 2022-2023 season with 56 goals in all competitions, including 52 goals for Man City and four goals at the team level. This is the best achievement of the top five European leagues, and two goals more than Kylian Mbappe.
Before Haaland scored twice, Ola Solbakken opened the scoring with a corner kick in the 12th minute, thereby scoring the first goal for Norway. In the third minute of injury time of the second half, Grigoris Kastanos burst into the penalty area and finished close to the corner, scoring the only goal for Cyprus.
Norway has its first win in Euro 2024 qualifying and is currently third with four points, equal to Georgia and eight points behind Scotland. Before defeating Cyprus, Haaland and his teammates lost to Scotland 1-2, drew Georgia 1-1 and lost to Spain 0-3.
The top two teams in each group will qualify for the Euro 2024 finals in Germany. Norway did not qualify for the last two major tournaments, the World Cup 2022 and Euro 2021.