Martin Odegaard scored and provided two assists as Norway continued their World Cup qualification rampage towards the final tournament with an 11-1 win.
Ahead of Norway’s match against Moldova, WhoScored had reported that Martin Odegaard was their highest-rated player in the European qualifiers for the World Cup, with an average rating of 8.32.
The Arsenal midfielder’s subsequent performance on Tuesday night did that average no harm, as WhoScored awarded him a perfect 10.
Odegaard quickly made his quality obvious in the early minutes, looping a clever pass in behind to Erling Haaland, who squared to Felix Horn Myhre for 1-0.
After Haaland doubled the lead, Odegaard’s through balls to the Manchester City striker were rewarded later in the half. He assisted Haaland’s second and third goals with inch-perfect passes to make it 4-0.
Odegaard then got on the scoresheet himself. After attempting a flick to an open teammate, the ball fell back to the 26-year-old, and he fired it beneath the Moldova goalkeeper for 5-0.
The Arsenal man was also involved in Norway’s seventh goal, as his shot rebounded to Thelo Aasgaard for a simple finish. And he played a part in Norway’s 10th as well, with a clever set-piece one-two with Julian Ryerson leading to the Dortmund man setting up another Haaland goal.
Though Odegaard officially ended the game with a goal and two assists, he played a key role in six of the 11 goals for his team. Any concerns about a shoulder injury appear to be behind him now.
The result leaves Norway six points clear at the top of their World Cup qualification group, though second-place Italy do have a game in hand. Only top spot is guaranteed progression to the final tournament, though finishing second would at least earn the team a play-off opportunity to qualify.
If Norway can win or draw against Israel at home in their next game on October 11th, they’d then be assured of a top-two finish.
But with a game against Italy still to come on November 16th, top spot is likely to remain up for grabs until the very end of the group stage.