IMAGES from the European Qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup played on Friday.
Norway stunned Italy with a 3-0 win on Friday, handing the visitors a humiliating start to their World Cup qualifying campaign.
In Group I, Norway lead the standings with nine points after three matches. Italy were playing their first match in the qualifying campaign.
The soaking wet home crowd had reason to cheer after 14 minutes when Alexander Sorloth timed his run perfectly onto a through ball from Antonio Nusa and slotted it home from close range.
Nusa lit up the night with a moment of brilliance after 34 minutes, controlling a pass with a slick first touch, bursting past two Italian defenders with a dazzling run, and drilling it in from the edge of the box.
Sorloth came close again just after the half-hour mark, slipping past Alessandro Bastoni on the right side of the box, but keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma reacted sharply to block a low, sneaky attempt at the near post.
The first-half rout continued when another through ball from Martin Odegaard found an unmarked Erling Haaland, who rounded Donnarumma to score Norway's third just before the break.
The continued pouring rain cooled the match down in second-half with Norway coming closest with Sander Berge sending a screamer into the post just after the hour mark, but no more goals were scored.
While Italy had most of the possession, their attacks were frequently broken down, resulting in only a single attempt on target. Lorenzo Lucca came closest for them in stoppage time with a header that was comfortably saved by Norwegian goalkeeper Orjan Nyland.
Belgium held by North Macedonia
North Macedonia equalised four minutes from time to hold Belgium to a 1-1 draw in their World Cup qualifying tie on Friday and keep up their unbeaten start to their Group J campaign.
Ezgjan Alioski scored a superb goal as he latched onto a cross from Darko Churlinov that floated over his head before he met it with perfect precision to volley home.
Maxim De Cupyer’s first half goal had Belgium in the lead as they played their first game of the campaign for places at the 2026 finals in North America.
North Macedonia have five points, with one win and two draws from their opening three games, while Wales took over the lead in the standings after they beat Liechtenstein 3-0 at home on Friday to move to seven points.
De Cupyer bundled the ball into the net in the 28th minute after Romelu Lukaku’s initial effort had been blocked by the heels of a defender.
North Macedonia had a chance one minute earlier to open the scoring as Eljif Elmas turned into space in the penalty area and struck the ball against the far post.
The rebound fell for Alioski with an open goal in front of him, but he hit the other post in a major missed opportunity.
Elmas had the ball in the Belgian net two minutes into the second half but his shot took a slight deflection off teammate Bojan Ilievski, who was in an offside position and VAR chalked off the potential.
But the home side finally got rewards for their efforts with Alioski’s goal keeping alive their hopes.
The group winners qualify for next year’s finals in Canada, Mexico and the United States and the runners-up advances to the playoffs.
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