The Norway national team is close to participating in the World Cup for the first time since 1998. This was reported by Euro-football.ru.
Before the last two rounds, Erling Haaland and his team are in a favorable position. Norway has collected 18 points in six matches.
Italy is in second place with 15 points from six matches. In the World Cup qualifiers, when teams have equal points, they are first compared by goal difference.
In this regard, Norway is far ahead of Italy: +26 compared to +10. In the final round, Italy will face Norway.
It is almost impossible to make up such a large goal difference in one match. Italy must win against Moldova in the previous round and hope for Norway to lose at home against Estonia.
Alternatively, Italy needs to significantly reduce the goal difference in the previous round to create an opportunity in the next match. However, this situation looks difficult for the team's head coach Gennaro Gattuso.
Perhaps Italy will have to participate in the play-off matches in the spring months. According to the table, Norway has 6 wins in 6 matches, scoring 29 goals and conceding 3.
Italy has 5 wins and 1 loss in 6 matches, scoring 18 goals and conceding 8. On November 13, Norway will play Estonia, and Moldova will play Italy.
On November 16, the match between Italy and Norway will take place. This game is considered the decisive battle of the qualifying stage.
