Victory over Iraq
LIVE: Haaland scores twice! Norway leads 2-1
Norway got off to a winning start in the World Cup thanks to Erling Haaland. The Manchester City striker led the Scandinavians to a 4-1 (2-1) victory over Iraq on Tuesday in Boston with two goals. The 25-year-old Haaland scored in the 29th and 43rd minutes to give Norway the lead at halftime and now has 57 goals in 51 international appearances. Leo Östigaard (76th) and an own goal (97th) sealed the win in the closing minutes; Aymen Hussein (39th) scored for Iraq.
Norway struggled against the heavy underdog for the first half. Due to slow build-up play, the star-studded offense led by Haaland and Alexander Sörloth was rarely able to make an impact. But Haaland made the difference. When the ball moved quickly down the left flank, the former Salzburg striker was on hand to meet David Möller Wolfe’s cross. But Iraq struck back. Following a cross from Al-Ammari, Hussein headed the ball in to tie the game. Hussein had already scored the decisive goal in the playoff against Bolivia during the qualifiers; upon entering the U.S., he was subjected to a seven-hour interrogation.
Haaland Capitalizes on a Blunder
The joy lasted only three minutes; a gift from the Iraqis gave Norway the lead once again. When Zaid Tahseen played a back pass that was far too weak, goalkeeper Jalal Hassan reacted too slowly—but not Haaland, who charged at the goalkeeper and blocked the clearance into the net. However, the lead was still in serious jeopardy in stoppage time of the first half; three dangerous attacks came close to tying the game again.
After the break, the game slowed down. Norway showed little offensively for a long time but also allowed few chances. Only Hussein Ali (63') threatened the narrow lead. Coach Stale Solbakken’s team extended their lead to 3–1 on a set piece. Three minutes after coming on as a substitute, Östigaard rose high on a corner kick and headed the ball in to make it 3–1; in stoppage time, an own goal by the Iraqis sealed the final score. In the closing minutes (83'), Haaland missed a great chance to score his third goal; this time, goalkeeper Hassan came out on top in the one-on-one with the star striker.
Group I (First Round):
Iraq – Norway 1–4 (1–2)
Boston, 63,106, Referee Atcho (GAB).
Goals: 0–1 (29') Haaland
1:1 (39.) Hussein
1:2 (43.) Haaland
1:3 (76.) Östigaard
1:4 (97.) Thorstvedt
Iraq: Hassan – H. Ali (73' Saadoon), Tahseen, Hashim, Doski – Bayesh (78' M. Ali), Al-Ammari, Ismael (59' Iqbal), Jasim (73' Qasem) – Hussein, Al-Hamadi (59' Farji)
Norway: Nyland – Ryerson, Ajer, Heggem, Möller Wolfe (73. Östigaard) – Ödegaard (81. Berg), Berge, Aursnes (73. Thorstvedt), Nusa (73. Schjelderup) – Sörloth (73. Bobb), Haaland
Yellow cards: Tahseen; none
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,
die Kommentarfunktion steht Ihnen ab 6 Uhr wieder wie gewohnt zur Verfügung.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
das krone.at-Team
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.