The journey to the German Euro 2024 has a stop this Sunday in Oslo that could be decisive (8:45 p.m., La1). Spain has the opportunity to qualify now, without worrying about the two remaining games in November, against Georgia and Cyprus. For that, a victory against a Norway that is facing the precipice is enough. Erling Haaland’s team only needs to defeat Spain to retain one option, which is to also beat Scotland in December. De la Fuente’s team, on the other hand, can tie this Sunday, and get another tie, or even lose and add in the last two crosses. And they have the play-off wild card if they don’t finish first or second in the group. But Norway’s anguish is limitless.
Haaland relieved her a little on Thursday in Cyprus. The striker arrived at another decisive day with the burden of not having scored in his three previous games for City, something unusual for a predator of his size. However, after just over an hour of play in Larnaca, he found the net again. And then he repeated.
The forward points out the gravitational center of the match, perhaps the fundamental difference compared to the first round match in Malaga in March, where he could not appear due to a muscle injury. Without the threat of him, although with a display of authority from Martin Odegaard, Luis de la Fuente made his debut on the national team bench with a last-minute victory: 3-1 with two goals from Joselu beyond the 80th minute.
Norway is another with Haaland. But Spain also bears little resemblance to that hesitant team from then. The national team has gained body and team structure, built around a backbone that comes from Unai Simón and a stable pair of center backs, Laporte and Le Normand, who this Sunday have their most committed test in the Norwegian tank. De la Fuente trusts in that framework: “We are dominating the aerial game situations,” he said yesterday. But Haaland has not yet played against Spain, and Simón knows that he needs little to score: “We will have to try to keep him as far away from the goal as possible. And when he is in the area, he should not touch the ball.”
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