Northern Ireland suffered a 3-0 loss to Norway, resulting in a 7-0 aggregate defeat in their Euro 2025 qualifying playoff. Caroline Graham Hansen, who scored twice in the first leg, struck again before goals from Arsenal’s Frida Maanum and Atlético Madrid’s Synne Jensen sealed the victory for Norway, who are ranked 16th in the Fifa rankings and 29 places above Northern Ireland. Having already been defeated 4-0 at Inver Park on Friday, Northern Ireland began the match in Oslo aware that their chances of progressing to Switzerland next year were slim, but they aimed to perform better.
Norway quickly took control and scored when Hansen cut in from the left, evaded a couple of challenges, and beat Jackie Burns with a low shot across goal. This was the Barcelona forward’s 50th goal for Norway and her 12th against Northern Ireland. Ada Hegerberg missed an opportunity to extend the lead before Maren Mjelde hit the crossbar from a corner, with Burns denying Maanum from the rebound. Despite several more chances, Northern Ireland managed to reach halftime only 1-0 down.
However, Norway doubled their lead less than two minutes into the second half when Maanum intercepted the ball from Rebecca McKenna inside the box and scored at the near post. The third goal came in the 79th minute with the help of a deflection. Substitute Jensen surged forward on a counterattack, cut inside, and hit a shot that deflected off McKenna, looping over the helpless Burns.
In other matches, Poland secured their place in Switzerland next summer by repeating their first-leg 1-0 win over Austria, with an injury-time goal from Ewa Pajor. At the AGC Arena in Teplice, Diana Silva scored twice for Portugal, giving them a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic and a 3-2 aggregate victory.
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