It finally ended 0-2 in Norway’s fateful match against Serbia at Ullevaal on Tuesday evening. Thus, Serbia are winners of Norway’s group, while Ståle Solbakken and his men messed up both the playoff spot and the second seeding for the EC draw. In other words, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. In front of 24,364 spectators, super strikers Dusan Vlahovic and Aleksandar Mitrovic scored the goals for Serbia, who finally won deservedly in a match that goes down in the series of fateful matches with Norwegian defeat as the outcome. – Disastrous elections news expert and former national team manager Åge Hareide was not impressed by the Norwegian effort. The 0-2 goal in particular, which largely killed the match, irritated Hareide. Then Serbia scored on the counterattack after Sander Berge had clumsily lost the ball near the halfway line. – Norway is making disastrous choices. Leo Østigård was lured out on one side and could have stayed more central with a view to closing off the area where the goals are scored from. After all, it is Sander Berge’s loss of the ball that leads to this misery that we are seeing now, Hareide summed up. – That one Berge has to put on his coat. It’s a terrible mistake in their own half, and it punishes Serbia brutally. Norway cannot afford to make such mistakes when we face such a good opponent, said TV 2’s expert commentator Jesper Mathisen. A lot was at stake. That the group win went over the finish line is bad news for Norway, which had an excellent starting point before the two matches against Slovenia and Serbia this round. First of all, group victory had secured Norway an extra chance in the playoff in March 2024 before the European Championship in the same year if the regular European Championship qualification fails in 2023. That place now belongs to Serbia. A group win had also given promotion to level A in the National League. This had meant that Norway had been visited by Europe’s best-ranked team and was seeded at the top level when the next edition of the National League is to be played. But perhaps most important of all: As a group winner, Norway would have been guaranteed to be seeded at level 2 when the groups for the regular EC qualifiers are drawn in Frankfurt on 9 October. It is now clear that Norway is seeded at level 3. The two best teams from each qualifying group go straight to the EC, and it goes without saying that the chances of qualifying for the EC would have increased if Norway had only had one better ranked team than in the group. Your verdict on Norway’s match against Serbia? Very impressive Medium Very disappointing Show result The loss on Tuesday night ruins a fine series of matches at the national arena for the Norwegian boys. Norway was unbeaten in the last ten home games before Tuesday’s game, and the previous loss at Ullevaal came precisely against Serbia in October 2020. Even before the start of the match, Norway was aware of what was needed to secure group victory: Three or one point would be enough, while defeat by any number would make the Serbs group winners. Haaland chance after one minute It didn’t take long in Tuesday’s match before Haaland, who had 21 goals in 22 international matches before the match, had a giant chance. The striker was played nicely free on a counterattack by Alexander Sørloth, but the shot from ten meters was well saved by the Serbian goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic. After 33 minutes, it was Norway’s goalkeeper’s turn to show off. Ørjan Nyland, who somewhat surprisingly received renewed trust from Ståle Solbakken, showed his best when he saved a header from Juventus star Dusan Vlahović in a phenomenal way. – A Gordon Banks rescue, stated news expert Åge Hareide. Ørjan Nyland kept up with a fever save in the first half. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB Goal just before half-time But three minutes before half-time, the Juventus striker suffered a puncture. He got the ball 45 degrees out from Filip Kostic, the Norwegian defense did not get close enough, and the striker wide-sided in 1-0 from close range. That was also the half-time score. It would get worse nine minutes into the second half. Sander Berge messed up the ball clumsily at the halfway line, Serbia countered and the ball finally ended up with the Serbian super striker Aleksandar Mitrović. He had few problems in hammering in 2-0 for the visitors. Berge stretched his hands to his head, fully aware that the late goal was largely his fault. Ståle Solbakken took action and made several substitutions after the goal, but the Serbs defended well. In overtime, Haaland had another good chance, but again his left-footed finish was saved by the goalkeeper. Therefore it also ended with a 0-2 loss and another Norwegian disappointment. This is how Norway lined up against Serbia: Ørjan Nyland – Julian Ryerson, Leo Skiri Østigård, Andreas Hanche-Olsen, Birger Meling – Martin Ødegaard, Fredrik Aursnes, Sander Berge – Alexander Sørloth, Erling Braut Haaland, Mohamed Elyounoussi.
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