Norway: The Dark Horse (Norges vei tilbake)

‎Dykes!

‎It's a total collapse!

‎Everything is falling apart!

‎I've let everybody down.

‎This is so embarrassing!

‎It's like the team's just ‎knocked to the ground.

‎And so is the dream of getting ‎to the final tournament

‎that Ståle had promised us!

‎Everyone's going to be coming for us now, ‎but it is my responsibility.

‎Everyone wanted to fire Ståle.

‎People turned their backs on that team.

‎-You think we're going to the World Cup? ‎-Absolutely not.

‎The ball is loose! It's 1-0!

‎They're bulldozing Moldova.

‎Norway, one! A dream start at Ullevaal!

‎-...towards Haaland! ‎-It's 3-0 to Norway!

‎You just want one of those, ‎ "It's over. We're in the World Cup now."

‎Italy has never lost a home game ‎in a World Cup qualifying game before.

‎But now we have to play against Italy ‎in our very last game.

‎Antonio Nusa shoots!

‎NORWAY: THE DARK HORSE

‎EP. 2: NOW OR NEVER

‎SAN SIRO, ITALY

‎LAST QUALIFYING GAME FOR THE ‎2026 WORLD CUP - ITALY VS NORWAY

‎ITALY - NORWAY

‎San Siro is a powerful place.

‎Italy playing ‎a qualifier at home is powerful.

‎They rarely lose.

‎And they've never lost ‎such a game at San Siro.

‎ØYVIND ALSAKER ‎SPORTS COMMENTATOR TV 2

‎Hence the location. ‎They knew this was a key match.

‎Italia! Italia!

‎I'm terrified of jinxing it.

‎We're so close now...

‎but we'll save everything ‎until after the game.

‎LISE KLAVENESS ‎SOCCER PRESIDENT

‎Personally, we want to win this game ‎and move on to the championship,

‎but there's something about ‎giving it to all Norwegians...

‎LEO SKIRI ØSTIGÅRD ‎DEFENDER, GENOA CFC

‎...who've been waiting for so long,

‎and that puts extra pressure on us ‎to make that happen.

‎Most of us have been living with that ‎pressure since we were 15, 16 years old.

‎KENT "KENTA" BERGERSEN ‎ASSISTANT COACH - FORMER PLAYER

‎Every single coach

‎has fears and anxiety about failure.

‎And if I didn't experience that,

‎I'd be a worse coach.

‎-Say something, Martin. ‎-I want one last fucking effort.

‎Ninety minutes left ‎where we fucking give our all.

‎We haven't beaten a top nation in forever. ‎We can go through the group undefeated.

‎Let's make noise here today, ‎and make even more later.

‎Come on!

‎ITALY

‎For the first time in history, Norway will ‎be playing an international team match

‎here in this cathedral ‎of a soccer stadium.

‎Italy has never lost a home game ‎in a World Cup qualifying group round.

‎What a night this could be ‎if we could win here tonight.

‎Captain Martin Ødegaard ‎is still out with a knee injury.

‎When you're out on the field playing, ‎you're just so locked in...

‎MARTIN ØDEGAARD ‎NATIONAL TEAM CAPTAIN

‎...but watching from the rafters, ‎you're so nervous.

‎It's much worse to watch.

‎I feel for everyone who's sitting at home ‎or wherever they are.

‎Italy has probably been ‎Norway's biggest soccer nemesis.

‎That's something we've never ‎been quite able to solve.

‎But the biggest thing tonight is

‎that Norway will secure their spot ‎in the World Cup.

‎The world's best finisher, Haaland,

‎against the world's best keeper, ‎Donnarumma.

‎NORWAY

‎The Norwegian boys.

‎ "Stronger together" is their slogan.

‎The match ball is delivered.

‎We're very excited now ‎about the Norwegian team.

‎Struggling to keep up, Wolfe. ‎Another cross.

‎Good, they're taking on the duel.

‎And he loses control.

‎Moving fast there! Moving way too fast!

‎ITALY 1 - 0 NORWAY

‎And Italy gets an early lead.

‎HALFTIME ‎ITALY 1 - 0 NORWAY

‎Not a surprising lead. ‎Italy has been controlling everything.

‎Boys. Quiet now.

‎Relax, drink, ‎be ready after a short, little break.

‎It didn't feel like a soccer match.

‎Very strange. ‎We did nothing in the first half.

‎JULIAN RYERSON ‎DEFENDER

‎It couldn't have gone much worse.

‎OSCAR BOBB ‎MIDFIELDER, FULHAM

‎You got this awful feeling.

‎1-0, absolutely fine, easy.

‎Play, play, play where we can,

‎but when we go for it, ‎we have to go for it.

‎Nothing in between. ‎All of a sudden, Erling will be through.

‎Okay? Come on, now.

‎Italy was better than us.

‎Our first half was too safe, as if we were ‎scared that everything could go wrong.

‎Let's hope Norway will take ‎a few more risks after the break.

‎Good ball. Nusa.

‎A bit tricky, but he controls it.

‎Here they come. Sørloth.

‎Sørloth is inside the box. He strikes.

‎A Norwegian chance 20 seconds ‎in the second half.

‎That's a good omen.

‎There's been a duel ‎between Erling Braut Haaland and Mancini.

‎It's a bit heated. ‎And Braut is a bit heated now too.

‎And then, he starts grabbing my ass.

‎And I'm thinking, "What are you doing?"

‎It got me a bit annoyed, ‎so I said to him...

‎A daring pass towards Thorstvedt.

‎There's Haaland. They're moving forward.

‎An entirely different approach ‎after the halftime break.

‎Nusa. Antonio Nusa inside the box.

‎ITALY 1 - 1 NORWAY

‎Antonio Nusa!

‎What a moment!

‎What a player!

‎It was unbelievable. ‎Keeping my cool was impressive.

‎ANTONIO NUSA ‎STRIKER, RB LEIPZIG

‎What a World Cup this will be!

‎Berge stops Esposito.

‎Nusa again.

‎There's Bobb.

‎Feint down to Oscar Bobb!

‎ITALY 1 - 2 NORWAY

‎Erling Braut Haaland delivers the message,

‎ "We're going to the World Cup!"

‎And Erling Braut Haaland ‎slams that ball in the net.

‎Thorsby, lots of space. ‎Dimarco trying to catch up. Now!

‎ITALY 1 - 3 NORWAY

‎And another! There's another!

‎Norway mops the floor with Italy!

‎Norway humiliates Italy in Milan,

‎where they never see defeat like this!

‎Norway shocks not only Italy, ‎but the whole soccer world at large.

‎I never thought I'd live to see this.

‎Strand Larsen, can you get in a goal now?

‎Of course you can! Yes, you can!

‎Of course you can!

‎We just can't take this anymore. ‎We need the final whistle to blow.

‎FINAL RESULT ‎ITALY 1 - 4 NORWAY

‎Gattuso 1, Solbakken 4!

‎Just look at this.

‎Look at those guys!

‎Congratulations.

‎This is huge.

‎This is how you do it.

‎Guys, we're going to the World Cup ‎with this bunch!

‎I feel like when you've pushed it to 4-1, ‎then you become a bit speechless.

‎This is content. ‎This is fucking content, guys!

‎Erling! It's so touching.

‎I shed a couple of tears ‎before the whistle blew.

‎This is simply huge. It's amazing.

‎I couldn't relax. I didn't get the feeling ‎that we were going to the World Cup.

‎And also, it was really special, ‎because my brother...

‎ARE HOKSTAD ‎TEAM MANAGER

‎...and his son and my son ‎were in the stands.

‎Just knowing that they were there...

‎I can just feel it, ‎sitting here, telling you about it.

‎Many emotions that I thought I'd be ‎able to control in a different way.

‎It's hard to put it into words. It's huge, ‎and so nice to finally make it happen.

‎Something was removed off the shoulders ‎of the whole population when we succeeded.

‎We're finally done with this.

‎And that's why I felt ‎more relief than joy.

‎STÅLE SOLBAKKEN ‎NATIONAL TEAM COACH

‎It's something that's been ‎hanging over a whole nation

‎for a very, very long time.

‎2026 WORLD CUP

‎QUALIFIED

‎OSLO ‎NORWAY

‎CITY HALL SQUARE

‎THE FOLLOWING DAY

‎In October, when we played against Israel,

‎Erling came into my room, and he said,

‎"What do we do ‎when we qualify in November?"

‎"We need to celebrate. ‎What do we do when we're done?"

‎ "I haven't really thought about that."

‎"We're going to the World Cup now, Are. ‎We know that."

‎"We can't say it out loud, ‎but we know we're going."

‎ "We have to celebrate." ‎So we ended up going to City Hall Square.

‎Thank you.

‎Hi. Good to see you.

‎I haven't been inside City Hall before.

‎And now, we're going to the World Cup.

‎I only have...

‎Do you know how many there are?

‎It makes me so proud to be able ‎to take Norway to a championship.

‎We've gone through such bad times, ‎and a lot of those were very tough.

‎It's hard to put it into words.

‎Wait till we win the World Cup.

‎I was the only one, really,

‎who was a bit skeptical.

‎How many people would be coming ‎when it's -4 degrees

‎on a Monday night ‎outside Oslo City Hall, really?

‎Are you ready?

‎Here comes Sondre Langås!

‎It's insane. There are so many people. ‎It's awesome.

‎Ørjan Håskjold Nyland!

‎To see that many people show up

‎on a cold day in Oslo was cool.