Manchester City striker Erling Haaland missed two penalty attempts for Norway during their World Cup qualifier with Israel on Saturday. The Scandinavians were handed a penalty just five minutes in after forward Dan Biton committed a foul. Haaland, who took responsibility from 12 yards, watched in dismay as both his original effort and the retake were denied by goalkeeper Daniel Peretz.
Polish official Szymon Marciniak demanded the first penalty be taken again after determining that Peretz had strayed from his goal line. When Haaland stepped up for his second attempt, Peretz read his intentions perfectly once more and pushed the strike to safety.
Nevertheless, the visitors broke the deadlock in the 18th minute courtesy of an Anan Khalaili own goal, before Haaland made amends by extending Norway’s advantage just before the half-hour mark.
Shortly afterwards, Israel presented Norway with their third goal on a plate with another own goal.
Haaland then netted twice more after the interval as he aimed to guide Norway back to the World Cup for the first time since 1998.
“Qualifying for the World Cup would be like a big nation winning it,” he previously said.
“It would be the biggest party of all.”
Norway control their own destiny at this stage.
Should they overcome Israel whilst Italy fail to collect maximum points against Estonia or Israel, the Scandinavians could clinch qualification with two fixtures remaining.
They currently lead Group I with 18 points, whilst Italy share nine points with Israel.
Norway will take on Estonia and Italy during November’s international window.
Since 2020, Haaland has netted an impressive 51 goals for Norway in a mere 46 matches – outpacing football greats such as Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe to the 50-goal milestone in international football.