Haaland bags five as Norway thrash Moldova, top their qualifying group | OneFootball

Norway, led by star Erling Haaland who scored five goals, steamrolled Moldova with a surreal scoreline of 11-1 this Tuesday in Oslo, in their fifth match of the European Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

After already thrashing the Moldovans 5-0 in Chisinau in March, the Norwegians were even more ruthless at home, propelled by five goals from their top scorer Haaland and four from 23-year-old attacking midfielder Thelo Aasgaard, who plays for Scottish side Rangers.

Felix Horn Myhre and Martin Odegaard were the other two Norwegians to score, while Moldova’s only goal was actually an own goal by Norwegian Leo Ostigard.

With this performance, Norway further consolidated their position as leaders of Group I, with 15 points, six more than Italy (in 2nd place), who defeated Israel (3rd place) 5-4 on Monday but have played one game less.

The Norwegians beat the Italian team 3-0 in the debut of the four-time world champions in the Qualifiers and are trying to qualify for their first World Cup since 1998.

Estonia is in 4th place in the group, ahead of Moldova, who are in last place due to five defeats in five matches and 25 goals conceded.

In total, 16 European teams are guaranteed a spot in the World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada and will, for the first time in history, feature 48 participants.

The 12 winners of each group in the European Qualifiers qualify directly, and the remaining four spots are determined by playoffs involving the 12 runners-up from the groups.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.