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Norway28733 Posts
Holy cow what a qualification
4-1 vs Italy on San Siro - the first time Italy ever lost a regular qualification game on home field. A passive first half - probably the worst half of the campaign - was followed by a 4-0 win in the second half. 8-0-0, 37-5 GD, 7-1 vs Italy, Haaland with 16 goals..
Like as a Norwegian this is just absurd, I was alive for our glory years during the 90s - where we had a team that got very solid results over a 8 year period of time - but that was basically accomplished through one of the most cynical approaches to football coupled with some very good defensive players, and- quite frankly, some luck. Then, this is followed by 24 years of misery, mediocre players, consistent clutch mistakes, every qualification missed - and now, all of a sudden, we genuinely have one of the best attacking teams in the world. Haaland Ødegaard Sørloth Nusa (not yet there on club level, but for Norway, he is amazing) is comparable to any other top 4 imo.
Fair enough that this is probably one of the worst Italy's we've seen - but still!
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Northern Ireland26225 Posts
16 goals, fucking hell lmao. Harry Kane is tied second with Mephis and Arnoutovic of Austria, all on 8. Haaland’s scored a goal every 44 minutes this campaign.
Be nice if Scotland, land of my forebears can make it, as, like Norway the last time was the 98 WC
Troy Parrot, 5 goals in two games, Portugal downed with a brace to give Ireland a winner-takes-all playoff shot in Hungary, basically from the dead. Hat trick with a 96th minute winner to scape into the playoffs. Crazy stuff!
Ronaldo posting an image on socials of [i]himself[/i/] to celebrate after Portugal won 9-1 in his absence, well that was something too.
England become the first team to make it through UEFA qualifying with a 100% winning record without conceding a goal. Not bad. I somewhat worry that England haven’t had much of really competitive runout this cycle though, given they dropped into the second Nation’s League pot prior.
So ends my mini-roundup!
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Norway28733 Posts
Spain is also en route to 100% win record without conceding a goal, but their group is short one team. That said I don't think adding Andorra to Spain's group would've changed anything.
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On November 17 2025 07:52 Liquid`Drone wrote:
Holy cow what a qualification
4-1 vs Italy on San Siro - the first time Italy ever lost a regular qualification game on home field. A passive first half - probably the worst half of the campaign - was followed by a 4-0 win in the second half. 8-0-0, 37-5 GD, 7-1 vs Italy, Haaland with 16 goals..
Like as a Norwegian this is just absurd, I was alive for our glory years during the 90s - where we had a team that got very solid results over a 8 year period of time - but that was basically accomplished through one of the most cynical approaches to football coupled with some very good defensive players, and- quite frankly, some luck. Then, this is followed by 24 years of misery, mediocre players, consistent clutch mistakes, every qualification missed - and now, all of a sudden, we genuinely have one of the best attacking teams in the world. Haaland Ødegaard Sørloth Nusa (not yet there on club level, but for Norway, he is amazing) is comparable to any other top 4 imo.
Fair enough that this is probably one of the worst Italy's we've seen - but still!
Don't think bad Italy takes away from the performance. It's been an impressive qualifier from Norway. Curious how they're going to perform at the world cup. Only need a couple of excellent players to go far in an international tournament (e.g. Wales).
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Norway28733 Posts
On November 17 2025 15:15 RvB wrote:Show nested quote +On November 17 2025 07:52 Liquid`Drone wrote:
Holy cow what a qualification
4-1 vs Italy on San Siro - the first time Italy ever lost a regular qualification game on home field. A passive first half - probably the worst half of the campaign - was followed by a 4-0 win in the second half. 8-0-0, 37-5 GD, 7-1 vs Italy, Haaland with 16 goals..
Like as a Norwegian this is just absurd, I was alive for our glory years during the 90s - where we had a team that got very solid results over a 8 year period of time - but that was basically accomplished through one of the most cynical approaches to football coupled with some very good defensive players, and- quite frankly, some luck. Then, this is followed by 24 years of misery, mediocre players, consistent clutch mistakes, every qualification missed - and now, all of a sudden, we genuinely have one of the best attacking teams in the world. Haaland Ødegaard Sørloth Nusa (not yet there on club level, but for Norway, he is amazing) is comparable to any other top 4 imo.
Fair enough that this is probably one of the worst Italy's we've seen - but still! Don't think bad Italy takes away from the performance. It's been an impressive qualifier from Norway. Curious how they're going to perform at the world cup. Only need a couple of excellent players to go far in an international tournament (e.g. Wales).
Tbh I think the rest of our team (the non-haaland/ødegaard) is quite a bit better than non-bale/ramsey Wales. Sørloth's gone a bit under the radar but his numbers from La Liga are really impressive, Berge is a top notch holding midfielder (especially when coupled with ødegaard), Nusa - again - is stellar when playing for Norway, Ryerson is a champions league finalist, Ajer is turning into a solid CB. There are still a couple relatively weak spots (left back, GK, other CB spot), and we have three irreplaceable players - so not the same squad depth as the real top teams, but like, Ødegaard was injured in 3/8 matches and even though Haaland scored 16 goals, we also had 21 goals that were not scored by him.
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What the hell happened to Sweden?
Iraq vs UAE for the final Asian half spot tomorrow night
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Northern Ireland26225 Posts
On November 17 2025 16:10 Liquid`Drone wrote:Show nested quote +On November 17 2025 15:15 RvB wrote:On November 17 2025 07:52 Liquid`Drone wrote:
Holy cow what a qualification
4-1 vs Italy on San Siro - the first time Italy ever lost a regular qualification game on home field. A passive first half - probably the worst half of the campaign - was followed by a 4-0 win in the second half. 8-0-0, 37-5 GD, 7-1 vs Italy, Haaland with 16 goals..
Like as a Norwegian this is just absurd, I was alive for our glory years during the 90s - where we had a team that got very solid results over a 8 year period of time - but that was basically accomplished through one of the most cynical approaches to football coupled with some very good defensive players, and- quite frankly, some luck. Then, this is followed by 24 years of misery, mediocre players, consistent clutch mistakes, every qualification missed - and now, all of a sudden, we genuinely have one of the best attacking teams in the world. Haaland Ødegaard Sørloth Nusa (not yet there on club level, but for Norway, he is amazing) is comparable to any other top 4 imo.
Fair enough that this is probably one of the worst Italy's we've seen - but still! Don't think bad Italy takes away from the performance. It's been an impressive qualifier from Norway. Curious how they're going to perform at the world cup. Only need a couple of excellent players to go far in an international tournament (e.g. Wales). Tbh I think the rest of our team (the non-haaland/ødegaard) is quite a bit better than non-bale/ramsey Wales. Sørloth's gone a bit under the radar but his numbers from La Liga are really impressive, Berge is a top notch holding midfielder (especially when coupled with ødegaard), Nusa - again - is stellar when playing for Norway, Ryerson is a champions league finalist, Ajer is turning into a solid CB. There are still a couple relatively weak spots (left back, GK, other CB spot), and we have three irreplaceable players - so not the same squad depth as the real top teams, but like, Ødegaard was injured in 3/8 matches and even though Haaland scored 16 goals, we also had 21 goals that were not scored by him.
Dark horses incoming?
I think you tick the two boxes Wales did, that sprinkling of genuine top quality, but you need a whole squad of 7/10 operators, maybe the odd 6 you can handle, but not too many. I just went and checked and more of that Norway team are playing in the big 5 Euro leagues.
How do you folks actually play? I’ve seen highlights, mostly involving Erling Haaland, but I’m a bit in the dark there in terms of the overall tactical approach.
I have an inkling, this far out that we’re primed for quite a few upsets because the heat is going to prove a big leveller. Teams who can sit deep and defend doggedly will be hard to break down. If a team have some potent threats on the counter, they become actively dangerous.
I mean last time out in the States, similar time of year and conditions we had Sweden and Bulgaria make the top 4, and teams like Ireland spring some shocks.
As a rambling aside, having a look at your Norway squad, I wonder if the European club game going from strength to strength is somewhat facilitating European dominance. A good European basically anywhere will tend to end up in one of those megaleagues and play at a very high standard. An equivalently good Asian player or South American may not get picked up, it tends to be the outstanding ones.
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Northern Ireland26225 Posts
I wonder who are the big winners and losers if we just wiped the slate today and let players play for whoever they’re eligible for.
England could gain Haaland, Olise and Musiala which is pretty insane to think about, even in a nonsense hypothetical.
France could gain quite a few players who declared for the nations of their forebears.
Some African sides definitely lose out if kids of the European diaspora declare other loyalties.
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United States10265 Posts
Well Germany finally showed up in a qualification game.
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Norway's qualification campaign is insane! Also happy to see that they all finally clicked it seems. 
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During the group-stage an already-eliminated England challenged Costa Rica for the UFWC in their third group-stage game and the UFWC was mooted as a potential consolation prize in the British press,[58] however the match was drawn and Costa Rica took the UFWC into the knockout phase. The UFWC and World Cup were "unified", with Germany securing both in the final.
How cool is that? Firstly that British press was actually talking about this and secondly that Germany actually got the real and the unofficial one :D
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Northern Ireland26225 Posts
I wonder what happens if a country that holds the belt ceases to exist? Champion forever!
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On November 17 2025 07:52 Liquid`Drone wrote:
...but that was basically accomplished through one of the most cynical approaches to football coupled with some very good defensive players, and- quite frankly, some luck...
I still remember Flo though, great attacker.
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I wonder if Sweden knew about this
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Northern Ireland26225 Posts
McGod with a bicycle kick in the 3rd minute!
Good start for the land of my ancestors, but I mean it is Scotland, they’re absolutely world class in finding ways to blow it
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This portugese ref must be half bosnian...
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Cmon Scotland! Hold out and win the group.
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Absolutely no way that's a red :/
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This Scotland game is ridiculous.
How many gifts are the Scottish going to waste?
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EPT
