News Focus
- Erling Haaland scores twice on his World Cup debut to lead Norway to a 4-1 victory
- Norway return to the World Cup finals after a 28-year absence, while Iraq come back after 40 years
- Iraq score their second-ever World Cup goal through Aymen Hussein but suffer late own goal
- Defensive weaknesses exposed for Norway ahead of their final group match against France
Norway celebrated their return to the World Cup after 28 years by beating Iraq 4-1 in an exciting Group I match. Iraq had waited 40 years to play in the tournament again. Despite a large gap in the world rankings, the Iraqi team played very well and made Norway work hard for the three points.
Erling Haaland was the star of the match. The Manchester City striker scored two goals on his first World Cup appearance. However, Norway’s defence looked nervous at times. This will worry them before their next game against France. Kylian Mbappé and the French team will face Norway in the final group match.
The match started with early chances for Norway. Antonio Nusa played a beautiful long pass to Haaland after just two minutes. The crowd of 60,000 people held their breath, but Haaland could not control the ball properly. Four minutes later, Haaland ran past an Iraqi defender but could not pass to Alexander Sørloth for an easy goal.
Haaland opened the scoring in the 29th minute. Nusa passed to David Møller Wolfe, who crossed the ball from the right side. Haaland ran to the back post and tapped the ball into the net from close range. This was his 11th goal in 11 competitive games for Norway.
Iraq surprised everyone with an excellent equaliser. Ali Jassim passed to Amir al-Ammari, who crossed the ball into the centre. Aymen Hussein jumped higher than the Norwegian defenders and scored with a powerful header. This was only Iraq’s second goal in World Cup history. The Iraqi fans celebrated wildly.
But Iraq lost their concentration three minutes later. Their goalkeeper, Jalal Hassan, waited too long to clear a back-pass. Haaland ran quickly to close him down. The goalkeeper kicked the ball against Haaland, and it bounced back into the empty net. Norway led 2-1.
Norway’s third goal came in the second half. Captain Martin Ødegaard took a corner kick. Leo Østigård jumped highest and headed the ball into the goal. Iraqi players complained about pushing, but the goal stood. Ødegaard was taken off shortly after this assist to rest for future games.
In the final seconds of the match, Haaland caused more problems. He headed the ball across the goal from a Kristoffer Ajer cross. Aymen Hussein became nervous under pressure from Kristian Thorstvedt and knocked the ball into his own net for an own goal.
Norway have a team full of talent. Nusa played very well, and Oscar Bobb waited on the bench. But they must improve their defence before playing France. Haaland nearly scored a hat-trick, but Hassan saved his shot. Still, Haaland has started his World Cup career in perfect style.