In international match number 25, both goals number 23 and 24 for the national team came for Erling Braut Haaland. Thus, the 22-year-old now has only three players ahead of him on the list of players who have scored the most goals for Norway. With Tuesday’s two goals, he passed both Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Tore André Flo, while he touched John Carew. Against Cyprus, it was first a penalty goal to make it 2-0 after 56 minutes, before 3-0 came after great interplay from captain Martin Ødegaard and Haaland. With an elegant foreplay, Haaland came alone with the goalkeeper, where he was the safety himself and tipped the ball into the goal. – There is not much more to say. Everyone has been talking about that goal drought before he came into this gathering, with him having one goal in eight games. At least he was able to stop it, says national team manager Ståle Solbakken at the press conference after the match, and continues: – He is raw in the box and raw on those runs. He can score a couple more today. There is not much more to say. The superlatives are a bit empty considering his nose for goal and his acceleration at the right moments. 23, 24 AND 24: Ole Gunnar Solskjær stopped at 23 and John Carew at 24. On Tuesday, Erling Braut Haaland scored goal number 24 at the age of 22. 3–1 was the final result after a late Cypriot reduction, which means that Haaland & co. got a good ending before the summer holidays. – There was a class difference between the teams, summed up former national team manager and TV 2 expert Egil “Drillo” Olsen. Haaland still has nine goals, ahead of Jørgen Juve, as the highest-scoring Norwegian men’s player for the national team. Juve, who played for the national team from 1928 to 1937 and was part of the bronze medal team in the 1936 Olympics, is also the only one with more goals after 25 internationals. He had 31 goals after the first 25 games for the national team. Most goals for Norway’s men’s national football team 1. Jørgen Juve, 33 goals (45 games). 2. Einar Gundersen, 26 goals (33 games). 3. Harald Hennum, 25 goals (43 games). 4. John Carew, 24 goals (91 games). 4. Erling Braut Haaland, 24 goals (25 games). 6. Ole Gunnar Solskjær, 23 goals (67 games). 6. Tore André Flo, 23 goals (76 games). 8. Gunnar Thoresen, 22 goals (64 games). 9. Steffen Iversen, 21 goals (79 games). 10. Joshua King, 20 goals (62 games). 10. Jan Åge Fjørtoft, 20 goals (71 games). 12. Odd Iversen, 19 goals (45 games). 12. Olav Nilsen, 19 goals (62 games). 12. Øyvind Leonhardsen, 19 goals (86 games). The names in bold are still active. Sources: Norwegian Football Association, Great Norwegian Lexicon. Chance bonanza from the start With the loss against Scotland on Saturday, Norway had had a mildly poor start to the EC qualification with one point from three matches. To have a legitimate hope of being among the top two teams in the group, Cyprus therefore had to be beaten at home at the Ullevaal Stadium on Tuesday night. From the first second, it was also clear that it was a revenge-seeking Norwegian team, which went right down Cyprus’ throats. Norway got one big chance after another and after eleven minutes the score also came. With a smooth, straight ankle, Ola Solbakken scored the first national team goal of his career, in what was his eighth international match. – You saw it in the celebration of the players, that here there was a lot of emotion that had to come out, said news’s football expert Carl-Erik Torp after the goal. RELIEF: Ola Solbakken celebrates together with Alexander Sørloth after the first goal. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB Both the players and the audience could easily let loose their cheers, but it ended with the one goal. That despite two post shots and a number of other great chances. – We simply cannot ask for much more than this from Norway. They played a good and controlled game. They have very good control defensively and create a lot offensively. The only thing we miss is the payoff. It should have been at least 3-0, said Torp after the first half. Haaland double With 1–0 at half-time, the match still lived out in the second half. For Erling Braut Haaland there were many near misses in the first half, but in the second half he showed his best side. Ten minutes into the half, he was safe from the penalty spot and just four minutes later he scored his second of the day, with a playful finish under a threatening Joel Mall in the Cyprus goal – after brilliant preparation by Martin Ødegaard. GOAL AFTER GOAL: With two goals in what is the last game of the season for Haaland, he ended up with 56 goals in 57 games for club and national team. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB – It was a difficult match for us, against a quality team and against world stars. But in the end, I have nothing to complain about with my players, says the national team coach of Cyprus, Temuri Ketsbaia, at the press conference after the match. Norway came close to scoring more as the half ticked on, but the fourth score failed to materialise. At the same time, national team manager Ståle Solbakken took advantage of the opportunity to give more debutants the chance. Brice Wembangomo, Bård Finne and Kristoffer Velde all got in during the second half. Cyprus reduced in overtime. It is Norway’s tenth late goal in the last quarter of the last eleven counting games, a total of 16 late goals. PS! The second match in Norway’s group on Tuesday, between Scotland and Georgia, was interrupted after around ten minutes of play due to rain on the pitch. Only after around an hour and a half was the match restarted.
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Erling Braut Haaland passed Solskjær and touched Carew – Norway played with Cyprus – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
