Erling Haaland scored and Norway humbled Italy 3-0 for the first time in 25 years in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup on Friday.
Haaland collected a through ball from playmaker Martin Odegaard and rounded goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the box for the third goal three minutes before halftime.
It was his 41st goal in his 42nd match for Norway to the delight of the spectators at Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo, including King Harald V of Norway.
Haaland also scored when Moldova was beaten 5-0 and Israel 4-2. Norway remained perfect in qualifying after three games in Europe Group I.
Striker Alexander Sorloth received a precise pass from Antonio Nusa then beat Donnarumma with a left foot shot. Nusa, the 20-year-old attacking midfielder, was a constant threat to the Italian defense. He left behind two defenders and doubled the advantage with a rising shot from inside the area.
Italy was missing some regulars for its first qualifying match, while others failed to impress, including Mateo Retegui, the best Serie A scorer.
Defenders Alessandro Buongiorno and Mattia Gabbia, defensive midfielder Manuel Locatelli and forward Moise Kean were all injured while key center back Francesco Acerbi, who was meant to mark Haaland, turned down his callup.
Diego Coppola played center back in the three-man defensive line used by coach Luciano Spalletti that was not able to stop Norway.
Norway dominates, Italy in trouble
In the other Group I game, Israel won in Estonia 3-1 for a second win and second place.
The Azzurri are under pressure from the start of their qualifying after failing to reach the last two World Cups.
Winning the group is the only way to ensure direct qualification to next year’s tournament in North America. The second-placed team goes into the playoffs — the stage where Italy was eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia and ruled out of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively.
A four-time World Cup champion, the only other time Italy didn’t qualify was for the 1958 edition.
Italy hosts Moldova on Monday when Norway will be in action at Estonia.
Croatia cruises, Belgium held
Croatia opened its qualifying with a 7-0 rout of minnow Gibraltar.
Mario Pašalić and Ante Budimir struck twice for Croatia within two minutes to break the deadlock after half an hour. In the second half, substitutes Andrek Kramaric and Franjo Ivanovis scored a couple each and Ivan Perisic piled on.
Croatia was runner-up in the 2018 World Cup and third in 2022.
In the same Group L, Adam Hložek and Patrik Schick each scored as the unbeaten Czech Republic beat Montenegro 2-0 for a third straight win.
Belgium was 1-0 up on a goal by defender Maxim De Cuyper but Ezgjan Alioski salvaged a draw for North Macedonia in a surprise in Group J.
Wales tops the group with seven points from three games after a 3-0 victory over Liechtenstein. North Macedonia was two points behind.
Europe to contribute a third of all teams
Europe will have 16 teams in the expanded 48-team field for the World Cup.
They will come from the winners of the 12 qualifying groups plus four from a playoff of the 12 group runners-up together with four best-ranked group winners in the Nations League that don’t finish first or second in the qualifying.
The group stage of European qualifying runs through November.
Haaland scores again as Norway crushes Italy in World Cup qualifier and Croatia cruises
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Haaland scores again as Norway crushes Italy in World Cup qualifier and Croatia cruises
- Italy was missing some regulars for its first qualifying match, while others failed to impress, including Mateo Retegui, the best Serie A scorer
Italian gymnastics ex-coach stands trial for bullying
ROME: The former coach of Italy’s rhythmic gymnastics team goes on trial Tuesday accused of bullying athletes, fueling questions over the treatment of young athletes as the country hosts the Winter Olympics.
Emanuela Maccarani, a former national team gymnast herself, faces charges of abuse of minors at a court in Monza near Milan, which is hosting part of the Games.
The trial was sparked by explosive claims three years ago by two promising Italian gymnasts, Nina Corradini and double world champion Anna Basta, who claimed they quit the sport while still teenagers as a result of psychological abuse by Maccarani.
Corradini and Basta are civil parties along with two other gymnasts, Beatrice Tornatore and Francesca Mayer, and Change The Game, an Italian association campaigning against emotional, physical and sexual abuse and violence in sports.
Maccarani has denied the charges. Five gymnasts who trained with her submitted statements in her defense at a preliminary hearing in September.
Change The Game founder Daniela Simonetti told AFP the trial throws into “question methods that often cause pain, devastation, and significant consequences for boys and girls in general.”
“This trial is linked to a way of thinking, a way of understanding sport, a way of managing young athletes.
“The expectation is that there will be a real debate around this, whether these methods are right or wrong,” she said.
Episodes of alleged abuse in the discipline have come under growing scrutiny, particularly following a sexual abuse scandal in the late 2010s, which saw former Team USA doctor Larry Nassar convicted of molesting girls.
Vulnerable
The Olympics Committee has given more attention to mental health in recent years in a bid to protect athlete wellbeing.
While the discipline is not featured at the Winter Games, the world’s top gymnasts are preparing for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Coach Maccarani, 59, led Italy to the top of a sport traditionally dominated by countries from the former Soviet bloc.
But during her near three-decade reign at the Italian team’s National Training Center in Desio, not far from Monza, days began with gymnasts being weighed in front of one another.
Often a long way from their families and barely out of childhood, they were vulnerable.
Some took laxatives and weighed themselves obsessively. One world champion reported being berated for eating a pear.
The affair appeared to be over in September 2023 when Maccarani was given a simple warning by the disciplinary tribunal of the country’s gymnastics federation (FGI) and handed back the reins of the national team, nicknamed the “Butterflies.”
But in March last year the FGI, under new president Andrea Facci, sacked Maccarani.
The FGI’s official explanation to AFP at the time of her dismissal was that the organization wanted to “open a new cycle in preparation for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.”
Corradini, whose testimony led the Monza prosecutor’s office to open an investigation, told AFP last year she was happy for “the young athletes who will now join the national team and who will surely have a different experience.”
