Being handed his Norwegian senior debut at 15 and promised first team training with Real Madrid at 16 was clearly too much too soon for the now 18-year-old Martin Odegaard, but to call the precociously talented midfielder a burn out for failing to disrupt the back-to-back European champions’ starting XI is obviously extremely harsh.
Sweden are still in the running for the 2018 World Cup. They will have to win a playoff against another UEFA team but have been playing well as of late. Sweden's current squad would be a fun addition to the World Cup, but do you know what would be more fun?
A Russian Second Division match (the third level of Russian football) between Tekstilshchik and FC Torpedo Vladimir (that’s a pretty badass sounding club) descended into absolute farce when the referee, Pyotr Miroshnichenko, failed to award Vladimir a penalty after two scandalous decisions within the space of 60 seconds.
The Netherlands were looking for a miracle on Tuesday. As the Dutch stepped on the field at Amsterdam Arena to face Sweden, they knew they needed to win the match by a seven-goal margin, a practically impossible deed.
On the other side, the Swedes aspired to either qualify directly for the World Cup with a victory, a scenario hinging on a France defeat to Belaurs which never transpired, or qualification via a runners-up finish and the UEFA playoffs.
France, fresh off a successful albeit ultimately disappointing Euro 2016, secured automatic qualification to the 2018 World Cup after defeating Belarus 2-1 on Tuesday. Goals from Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud confirmed France’s passage from a tricky UEFA qualifying group also containing Sweden, the Netherlands and Bulgaria.