The qualifying rounds for EURO 2024 are coming to an end. Most teams already know whether they will go to the tournament in Germany or watch it on TV. The second option concerns the Norwegians, who once again missed out on a promotion. The world football star will not go to the championship, and this happened because of… an unnecessary victory in qualifying.
The Polish national team will not remember the Euro 2024 qualifiers best. They failed to advance directly from a group that, in theory, did not seem difficult. Thanks to their performances in the Nations League, the “white-red” were guaranteed to play in the playoffs, which is a lifeline for Michal Probez’s team. Other countries did not have this luxury. World football star Erling Haaland will once again watch a major football event on TV.
The world football star will not go to Euro 2024
Norway drew 3-3 with Scotland in their last UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying match. Although the team had no chance of finishing in second place before the match, they were counting on a favorable result in both this match and the Israel-Romania match. The victory of the main team allowed Stala Solbakken to advance to the playoffs, but the Romanians won with a score of 2-1.
Why won’t Haaland’s team get a chance to play in the playoffs? The Norwegians finished the League of Nations better than Romania, but worse than Israel. A victory for Allon Chazzan’s team over their opponents would provide them with direct access to the EURO, and the right to the playoffs would “pass” to the Norwegians. When the opposite happened, the Romanians went ahead and the Israelis exercised their right to compete in the playoffs.
Interestingly, according to the AbsurDB profile on Twitter, this is another qualifying round for the European Championship, in which the Norwegians were one goal short of qualifying. The unsuccessful streak has been going on for twenty years (since qualifying for EURO 2004). What’s even weirder is that if Norway had lost the match to Sweden in the current qualifying round, they would have had a chance to play in the knockout stage. As a result, they picked up one point against Slovenia and six points against the Triple Crowns. The Swedes’ extra points would have allowed them to overtake the Slovenians, which would have put Norway in a higher position, allowing them to qualify for the knockout stages.
Strange situations in EURO qualifying
There has been a lot of discussion online in recent weeks about the current format of EURO qualifying, which can sometimes indirectly contribute to defeats over victories. It wasn’t that long ago that it was “favorable” for Ireland to lose to the Netherlands so that they would qualify directly for the tournament, earning the right to play in the knockout stages.
Source: Wprost
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