Norway beat Moldova today in Chisinau. Only 1-0, but considering we were held to a 0-0 draw in WCQ, I'll take it! Iversen scored in the 49th minute. We got some major help today too! Hungary beat Bosnia at home (1-0) and Malta was leading 2-1 over Turkey until the Turks equalized... but the small island held on for the draw. So we've gone from 4th place into 2nd place, within reach of 1st place: 1. Greece - 18 2. Norway - 16 3. Turkey - 15 4. Bosnia-Herzegovina - 13 5. Hungary - 12 6. Malta - 6 7. Moldova - 2 Norway plays Greece, in Oslo, on Wednesday! HEIA NORGE!!!
If we only beat Greece and Turkey at home I think we will qualify. Away game in Bosnia will be hard, but Malta away is definitly beatably even tho they seams to be on a uptrend. The home matches will be the key to Euro2008, points in Bosnia would be a bonus while Malta is a must win. 7 points (4 at home + Malta) may be enough while 9 points (6 at home + Malta) should be enough. But a lose at home would likely be exit for this time. Chances right now seams pretty good, imo above 50% atm.
Remember that both Greece and Turkey have one more match than us left. However, they still have left to face eachother, so if we win all the remaining matches, we'll still qualify no matter what Greece and Turkey do.
Result that will bring us til EC for sure. 1 point Greece, 3 point Turkey, 3 point Bosnia, 3 points Malta. 3 point Greece, 3 point Turkey, 1 point Bosnia, 3 points Malta. 3 point Greece, 3 point Turkey, 3 point Bosnia, 1 points Malta. So 10 points will be enough for sure if we beat Turkey. But I also think 8 and 9 points will be enough if we beat Turkey as Im not that sure that Turkey will win all their 4 (3 win 1 draw be enough for us) remaining matches. If they lose on of the remaining matches, 7 points will be enough. Home match against Turkey will be the key here. If we win that we have good chances, draw will make it hard while losing it would most likely send us out of another chamionship as we have to win all the other matches and hope for Greece and Turkey to fail..
HT, Norway come back two times by Carew and Riise to make it 2-2! Greece has maximum efficiency on two set pieces, we are creating all sorts of chances. Greece are deadly in the box, at the same time we've been very lax, time to crank it up and show some muscles in the second half.
2-2 against Greece. And pretty good match. Bosnia lost and is definitly out of the race if they even have been in it. Turkey won tho. Incredible red card to Gere of Hungary btw. clearly taken by gk and no diving, but referee though otherwise.. But we "only" need to win the three remaining matches and we will go to Austria/Switserland for sure. But still think 6 points(including Turkey win) may be enough to go through.
Norway showed their muscle alright. I've never seen such reffing in my life. Norway were practically climbing our keeper the entire game. Every the ref either ignored or refused to give a card out. Carew was the prime culprit. He should have been sent off. He made 5-6 cardable offences and was only called on his dive. On the contrary the ref handed out 7 yellow cards to Greece for Norway's 1. Unbelievable. Everytime our goalie reached for the ball he was climbed on, elbowed and pushed. Such ugly play. We were garbage mind you, our DMs did not do their job, but I'm left with my mouth open as to what game the referee was watching. I fully expect to see a Youtube montage on this. Unfreakenbelievable.
This is all Norway *CAN* do. But depending on what Turkey do. If they loose to you but win their other games it will come down to a tiebreaker (because they have also played 1 less remember).
I am pissed that I had class and didn't get to see this. From reading the match report on UEFA.com it sounds like we should have won but their keeper made some incredible saves to keep us tied. Glad to see Moldova trip up someone other than us for once. Also, don't forget that Greece also plays Turkey later on. If they can beat the Turks that'll help us tremendously. At the beginning I was rooting for Norway & Turkey to go through, but at this point I'd prefer to not sweat it and just go along with Greece through to the finals.
We should have won today but we did'nt do a good defensive job on freekicks and corners. To have any chances of qualifying i think we have to beat Turkey at home.
I can't see how you can struggle so much in this group. Anyway, I definetly hope Norway goes through. If you could push out Turkey in the process, even better.
What is that suppose to mean? We are playing against a team who got 3rd place in a World Cup 5 years ago and the team who won the Euro Cup 3 years ago. But we're not even really struggling, Greece has 19 points, both us and Turkey have 17. It's just pretty even. Struggling would be if we were down where Bosnia and Hungary are. At least we're not looking at possibly finishing behind NORTHERN IRELAND in our group.
Yah Greece, Turkey and Norway is a really tough qualifying group. Too bad you didn't get Spain or Denmark in your group instead. Come on now, let's be real here. Greece won the Euro 2004 but it's never meant less in the history of the cup. Turkey is quite alright, they weren't that easy for Sweden when they were in Turkey's group for the WC 2002 (although Sweden did qualify 5 or 6 points ahead of no.2 which was Turkey) You lost to Bosnia at home. I like Norway more than any other country outside Sweden but Norway has absolutely been struggling. Btw, you are American right ?, rather than a Norweigan who's moved to the states ?. Just as you're wrong about most things, you're wrong about Sweden as well. Sweden will not finish behind Northern Ireland. Sweden is No.1 in the group, Spain is no.2 so how are you fitting Northern Ireland into this ?. In order for Sweden to qualify for Euro 2008, they need 6 points in 4 games. Next match is Lichtenstein away so make that 3 points in 3 games Sweden vs. Northern Ireland Spain vs. Sweden Sweden vs. Latvia Sweden is basically qualified already