– I feel like I’m overtaken by the “touch”, and then I hit his knee. I don’t have a chance to stay standing. I feel it’s an obvious punishment, Bjorkan tells NRK.
The stadium kept shouting at the penalty area, but the referee was not affected and booked him for diving.
– I can not understand other than that there will be punishment. It’s a small scandal, commented Karl-Erik Torp, an expert at NRK.
After studying the replay, Torp stated he “couldn’t understand” how Norway didn’t get a penalty.
Protester: The Norwegian players rallied around the referee when Björkan fell to the ground.
Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB
– What can you say? When you look at the pictures it is quite clear. Where do the borders go? It’s not entirely clear, says Bjorkan, so he can’t say anything other than that it’s disappointing, at the same time he sees the punishment being repeated.
The referee waved the match after the VAR referee checked the situation and Norway’s shouts were not heard.
– It’s frustrating and sums up the evening. It won’t happen, says Berger Melling after the match.
Heavy to look at
The frustration was evident after the match. Settling with buckets of Norwegian chances – and zero goals – against Slovenia at home.
Although Norway rose significantly after the break, it won’t be for Erling Braut Haaland, Martin Odegaard or anyone else in Norway’s national team uniform.
– It’s hard to look at him. We are bad at first. 11 against 11 in the others we are very good. It is enough to score one, two or three goals. But it was one of those days when the ball didn’t go to goal, Stefan Strandberg tells NRK after the match.
Close: Haaland had several big chances against Slovenia.
Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB
Because it was neither the number of opportunities nor their size.
We have more than enough opportunities to seize them. We played a little bad first half, so in the second half we are good from start to finish. It’s frustrating that we didn’t hit the target we needed, Berger Melling tells NRK.
11 to 10
However, the penalty kick in the 86th minute was far from the only Norwegian chance to score the winning goal against Slovenia. It was one a hero The other Norway knocked out Olival in the second half.
The hosts started a 45-minute dash against Slovenia in the second half, but time and time again star goalkeeper Jan Oblak got in the way.
Norway had a huge advantage after the break, and it only increased when Miha Blasic saw himself having to corner Erling Braut Haaland on his way to goal.
The Slovenian denied the striker a clear goal opportunity, and thus was a red card and a march order:
Martin Odegaard, who created many chances in the second half, kept them out of reach of Jan Oblak – on the crossbar.
– The second half is very good, the only thing missing is scoring, says Odegaard after the match.
star on the way
It was clear that national team manager Ståle Solbakken was not satisfied with the first 45 minutes, and the heroic players responded by creating opportunity after chance for Slovenia goalkeeper Oblak.
Oblak was mostly standing in the way.
The jubilation had already begun when Haaland was played alone by Odegaard, but the last chance was avoided by a tiger’s jump when he prevented the striker from running around him.
Alexander Sorloth and Christian Thorstedt came after the side change in pursuit of the winning goal, and the former had a great chance in the 62nd minute. However, the header from five meters went straight to Oblak.
startup problems
Expectations for Olival were huge after two solid away wins, but Slovenia quickly showed that it would not be easy to break them.
The guests opened better, took care of the ball and deprived Norway of the room. Erling Braut Haaland finished with three and four players when Norway attempted an attack.
Committed Solbakken asked players to be patient, but he was fair approx When you are could Become dangerous in the first half.
The last pass was very inaccurate, and when Olival managed to cheer to score just before the break, Joshua King was a few inches from the wrong side – and the goal was disallowed for offside.
A few minutes before that, Slovenia had an adventurous opportunity to take the lead. A post through Organ Haskegold Nieland was sent to Zane Sellar, who hit the post before the ball was sent back to Nieland.
– Karl-Erik Torbe, NRK expert, commented that it was absolutely incredible that Norway did not end up there.
Solbakken responded by throwing Alexander Sorloth and Christian Thorstedt for Joshua King and Frederic Orsnes respectively in the second round.
And so it was a very different tour from the home team.
Sweden’s problems
At the same time that Norway collided with Slovenia, problems were piling up for Sweden at home against Serbia.
First, Matthias Svanberg and Christopher Olsson both received yellow cards, meaning they lost the match against Norway in Olival on Sunday. In addition, the defensive problem was exacerbated when Joachim Nelson had to come out injured.
Just minutes later, Serbia put Luka Jovic ahead, and Serbia eventually won 1-0.
Serbia cheers: Jovic and his teammates celebrated a 1-0 win against Sweden.
Photo: TT News Agency / Reuters
This is why battles are so important
The National League is the first step on the path to a potential European Championship final in 2024.
If Norway wins their group, Ståle Solbakken’s men are guaranteed an additional qualifying chance if they do not qualify through the European Championship’s regular qualifiers in 2023.
Not only that: good results can provide a better classification and therefore easier qualifications for the European Championship when the groups take place in October.
The next and last Norway match will be played on Sunday at 18.00. Then Sweden comes to Olival to make up for the 2-1 loss in Stockholm.
The National League ended with two matches at the end of September against Slovenia (away) and Serbia (at home).