Erling Haaland absent at the World Cup?

DBasia.news – Erling Haaland has made headlines in recent months. Due to his impressive form in the goal, however, the Norwegian star will not receive the same spotlight during the 2022 World Cup.

While team-mates like Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Ederson will dream of lifting the trophy in Qatar, Haaland will sit at home wondering as Norway failed to qualify for the tournament.

Of course, Norway are not among the seeded teams from Europe and qualifying for the World Cup will always be an uphill battle, but Norway could have done better to become one of the 31 teams joining hosts, Qatar.

In the same group, the Netherlands were not at all in good shape at the start of the qualifiers, while Turkey did not have the same individual qualities that Norway had in their ranks.

But finishing third in Group G was the best result Norway could have, as they didn’t even get a second chance to qualify by winning a ticket through the play-offs.

Haaland is not the only superstar to miss the World Cup as there are a number of other famous names.

Liverpool star, Mohamed Salah will also be watching from home as Egypt failed to beat Senegal in the qualifying play-offs, while the likes of Gianluigi Donnarumma, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Alaba and Victor Osimhen also failed to qualify.

And then there’s Arsenal playmaker, Martin Odegaard, who suffered the same fate as Haaland as his international team-mate.

Norway qualified for the quadrennial tournament in 1994 and 1998 and the presence of players of the caliber of Haaland and Odegaard could increase their chances in the near future, especially with plans to expand the World Cup.

The 2026 edition of the World Cup will feature 48 teams, including 16 countries from Europe. That means there are three additional spots up for grabs during the qualification process.

Norway will still be working hard on it as they are currently ranked 22nd in the FIFA world rankings, but they will be optimistic to improve in the years to come.