Norway, together with European champions Spain, is one of the two best teams on the continent.
That is the view of Israeli head coach Ran Ben-Shimon, whose team was mauled by Erling Haaland and company in a 5-0 World Cup qualifying defeat in Oslo on Saturday.
Norway have not played in a major tournament since Euro 2000 but are realistically just three points away from confirming qualification for next year’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
They are six points clear of Italy in Group I, with the Azzurri having three games in hand compared to Norway’s two. However, Stale Solbakken’s team have a goal difference of +26, 19 better than that of their nearest rivals, so one win would all but guarantee a top spot.
Haaland scored a hat-trick on Saturday and reached 12 goals in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, a number previously only surpassed by Robert Lewandowski (16, 2018) and Cristiano Ronaldo (15, 2018) in one cycle.
As a team, Norway scored 29 goals in just six games, leading Ben-Shimon to suggest they were among the elite.
“I believe that Norway, together with Spain, is one of the two best teams in Europe,” Ben-Shimon said. “I expected a lot from them, but they still surprised me.
Solbakken is not convinced by that statement, but the Norwegian boss happily accepted this lofty praise, saying: “It’s a bit far-fetched, but we will accept it!”
Norway play a friendly against New Zealand on Tuesday before completing their qualifying campaign next month, and Solbakken wants his players to toast their latest victory.
“I’m excited too. We’ve been locked up since Sunday. It’s important that we can let the air out a bit,” said the former Koln, Wolves and Copenhagen boss.
“You can always drink one beer too many, but mentally it is good for us.
‘We’re going to have something to eat, and then I said in the locker room that there’s one man who’s not going out tonight, and that’s me!
“The others can go out and enjoy themselves: both the players and the support staff.”
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