Italy missed out on direct qualification for the World Cup. Against Norway, Squadra Azzurra appeared disappointing in the second half. Portugal progressed through a shooting fest, Hungary suffered late drama. Thomas Tuchel achieved extraordinary things with England.
The Italian national team experienced a disaster at the end of the World Cup qualifiers. Despite winning 1-0 in the first half, Squadra Azzurra lost 4-1 against Norway. While superstar Erling Haaland’s team qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1998 with a perfect record of eight wins from eight matches, Italy had to advance to the play-offs. In principle, it was clear before the match that this detour was imminent.
With a win, Italy would not only have to close the three-point gap on Norway, but also have an even worse goal difference of 17 goals – an impossible task. Norway could suffer a nine-goal defeat in Milan. However, the team that previously appeared so convincing had problems with the 2006 champions for 45 minutes. Despite a clear lead, Italy couldn’t get more than 1-0 thanks to Inter striker Pio Esposito (11th minute).
After the break, Norway were much better and were able to equalize through strong Leipzig professional Antonio Nusa (63′). Haaland finally turned things around with his 15th and 16th goals in qualifying (78/79). Italy looked unhealthy during this phase. Jørgen Strand Larsen scored in stoppage time to make it 4-1 and make it an eighth win in an eighth game. Italy enters next year’s play-offs full of worries.
Portugal qualified for the football festival without their red-banned superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo. Roberto Martinez’s team secured first place in Group F with a 9:1 (5:1) win against Armenia and thus avoided a detour through the play-offs. Captain Ronaldo (40) is absent from Porto as he was sent off in the 2-0 defeat at Ireland on Thursday. Even so, the excitement was great. “We are at the World Cup. Let’s go Portugal,” he wrote on the X platform.
Tuchel kept a clean sheet with England
In the final minutes, Ireland secured second place behind Portugal with a 3:2 (1:2) win against Hungary in Budapest and could therefore still hope for a place in the World Cup via the play-offs. Ireland’s hero was Troy Parrott, who scored all three of his team’s goals. He scored the winning goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Harry Kane shot through Thomas Tuchel and an already qualified England team to claim an eighth win in their eighth qualifying match in Group K. In his 112th international match, the star striker from FC Bayern Munich scored 77 and 78 to secure a 2-0 (0-0) win over group runners-up and play-off participants Albania. This means that the Three Lions remained clean in the qualifying round with a goal difference of plus 22.
Vice world champions France won 3-1 (3-1) in Azerbaijan without rested superstar Kylian Mbappé. Coach Didier Deschamps’ team easily qualified for the World Cup in Group D with 16 out of 18 possible points. Ukraine secured their play-off ticket with a late 2-0 (0-0) win in the second-place matchup with Iceland.
dpa/luwi
