On a night when Erling Haaland moped around the pitch, dragging his hulking frame across the Cardiff turf, Wales registered a welcome victory over 10-man Norway and their first this year. Was this just one of those games where the game’s deadliest finisher was stuck on the fringes or was it a case of 115 things occupying his mind? Either way, this defeat proved a humbling experience. “You’re just a shit Kieffer Moore,” was the chant aimed at Haaland from the locals.
Daniel James cancelled out Oscar Bobb’s well-worked opener in the first half and 17 seconds after the restart Torbjørn Heggem was sent off for fouling James as the Leeds winger streamed towards goal, resulting in a free-kick from which Neco Williams earned Craig Bellamy a timely win with an unerring strike.
“It feels a bit like the first punch in the face in a long, long time,” said the Norway and Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard after his country lost successive games for the first time in four years. “Now we have to respond, stick together and fight back.”
For Bellamy, a first win since last November eased the mounting negativity after a bruising run of results, chiefly their World Cup playoff defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina in March and a listless display in Denmark last Sunday. “I felt my own disappointment since Bosnia and I’ve felt the stick as well,” the Wales head coach said. “The summer wasn’t easy. These games weren’t easy. But I’ve seen it … I’ve seen managers before me get it. I’ve seen the abuse the previous manager [Rob Page] got. It’s been a really difficult couple of months but it’s ‘welcome to this’ if you want to step into this … this is it. I do think we could be kinder to each other.”
It was plain to see Bellamy had been hurting and he cited his daughter receiving abuse on social media. “I chose to live back down here because I wanted to be on the ground, I wanted to be called a wanker to my face,” he added.
“The World Cup [playoff defeat] moved, I just felt the shift … Look, I am a strong person, I think we all are, but it’s the people around me I’m conscious of. It’s just society. What are we? Eight prime ministers in the space of 11 years? It’s nuts ... We’re such a small country, why can’t we have each other’s backs? Why don’t we look after each other more? The others can go at us. We’re too quick [to criticise].”
Wales bounced off the canvas after Ødegaard’s cute ball released Bobb on goal to open the scoring on 11 minutes. Liam Cullen, now of third-tier Leicester, pinched the ball from Sander Berge after the Fulham midfielder was sluggish to claim Fredrik Aursnes’s pass and Wales raced away from the scene.
Cullen and Lewis Koumas burst forward and Sorba Thomas zipped a low cross into the box, where James beat David Møller Wolfe to the punch. Thomas, who by his own admission loves staying wide to get chalk on his boots, was a constant threat.
Norway were punished for being slow out of the blocks in the second half, Heggem hauling James down after the restart. James does everything at speed and Heggem knew he was in trouble. The Spanish referee Alejandro Hernández awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box and Williams dispatched a wonderful right-foot strike to Ørjan Nyland’s right, to the surprise of the former Aston Villa and Reading goalkeeper.
Bobb played draught excluder behind a white wall of Norway shirts and Nyland stepped to his left. Nyland was out of position when he had to shuttle across his goalline when Williams thrashed the ball into the bottom corner.
Haaland had one of those games; he was on the periphery and recorded just 11 first-half touches, the fewest of any player, including the Borussia Dortmund full-back Julian Ryerson who was forced off through injury after 16 minutes. Ethan Ampadu easily won what, technically, will go down as a duel on halfway but in truth Haaland just stuck out a leg in the hope of claiming the ball. His first whiff of goal came a couple of minutes before the interval but Ryerson’s replacement, Marcus Pedersen, misread Haaland’s movement and the move collapsed.
The substitute Josh Sheehan spurned a golden chance to extend Wales’s advantage, sending a weak shot at Nyland after more fine craftsmanship from Thomas to release the Bolton midfielder on goal. Up the other end, Haaland ambled across the box in preparation for another Pedersen cross. When it arrived Haaland soared high but unmarked sent a header straight at Danny Ward. Then came a puff of the cheeks, a look to the turf. It has been that kind of week.
