Erling Haaland-inspired Norway recover from Scotland defeat with comfortable win over Cyprus

Under enormous pressure to record a win following their 2-1 defeat at home to Scotland last week, Stale Solbakken’s men were too strong for the Cypriots, who remain bottom of the pool and look unlikely to trouble the qualification places.

Norway took the lead at the Ullevaal Stadion on 12 minutes thanks to Ola Solbakken’s goal and they controlled the remainder of the opening period without troubling the scoresheet. However, they added to their tally 11 minutes into the second period when Haaland netted from the penalty spot before converting on the hour mark following good work from Martin Odegaard to put the match beyond doubt. Cyprus scored a late consolation through Grigoris Kastanos.

The win moves Norway on to four points ahead of what could be a crucial match against Georgia in September. The Norwegian also have to host Spain and play Scotland in their final match at Hampden on November 19.

Erling Haaland scored twice as Norway defeated Cyprus 3-1 in Oslo.

Elsewhere in Tuesday’s qualifiers, Cristiano Ronaldo scored in the 89th minute as Portugal overcame Iceland 1-0 in Reykjavik to maintain their 100 per cent record at the top of Group J. There was a surprise result in Chisinau, though, as Moldova came back from 2-0 down to defeat Poland 3-2 in Group J.

Austria won 2-0 at home to Sweden, Luxembourg took down Bosnia 2-0 by the same scoreline in Sarajevo, Belgium were easy 3-0 winners against Estonia, Hungary prevailed 2-0 at home to Lithuania, Albania won 3-1 away at the Faroe Islands, Slovakia were narrow 1-0 victors in Liechtenstein and Bulgaria drew 1-1 at home to Serbia.