Manchester City striker Erling Haaland missed two penalties for Norway in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Israel. The Scandinavian team was awarded a penalty after just five minutes when forward Dan Bitton committed a foul. Taking charge from 12 yards remaining, Haaland watched in dismay as both his first shot and retake were denied by goalkeeper Daniel Peretz.
Polish official Szymon Marciniak ruled that Perec had strayed from the goal line and called for the first penalty to be taken again. When Haaland stepped up for his second attempt, Perez once again read his intentions perfectly and pushed the attack safely.
Still, the visitors broke the deadlock with an own goal from Anan Hariri in the 18th minute, and made up for it with Haaland extending Norway’s advantage just before the half-hour mark.
Immediately afterwards, Israel gifted Norway with a third goal with an own goal.
Haaland then scored two more goals after the interval, aiming to return Norway to the World Cup for the first time since 1998.
“Qualifying for the World Cup is like winning for a great nation,” he previously said.
“It’s going to be the biggest party of all.”
Norway is currently in control of its own destiny.
While Italy failed to pick up maximum points against Estonia or Israel, if Italy wins against Israel, the Scandinavian team could qualify with two games remaining.
Italy currently leads Group I with 18 points, with Italy sharing nine points with Israel.
Norway will play Estonia and Italy in international matches in November.
Since 2020, Haaland has scored an incredible 51 goals in just 46 games for Norway, surpassing footballing greats such as Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe to reach the 50-goal milestone in international football.
