WC qualifier in Baku, September 6, 1997 ======================================= Azerbaijan - Norway 0-1 (0-1) Tofiq Bahramov Republican stadium Att: 8000 0-1 Tore Andre Flo (43) Referee: Gunter Benko, Austria. Yellow card: Erik Mykland, Norway. Line-ups -------- Azerbaijan (4-4-2): Aleksandr Jidkov - Emin Agayev, Deni Qaysanov, Faiq Cabbarov, Vacaslav Abusov (Ruslan Musayev from 87.) - Rasim Abusov (Aslan Korimor from 67.), Juris Huseynov, Rufat Quliyev, Qurban Qurbanov - Nazim Suleymanov, Narvik Sirxayev. Norway (3-5-2): Frode Grodås - Dan Eggen, Henning Berg, Stig Inge Bjørnebye - Petter Rudi, Erik Mykland, Kjetil Rekdal (Bent Skammelsrud from 74.), Ståle Solbakken, Frank Strandli (Gunnar Halle from 46.) - Tore Andre Flo, Jostein Flo (Odd Inge Olsen from 82.). Match report ------------ Norway needed a win to clinch their place in France'98, and a win was what they got. Not very convincingly, not very entertaining, but nevertheless a win. The lonely goal was scored by Tore Andre Flo just before the break, on a break-away move also involving Rudi and Solbakken. He got past his defender and fired in a deflected shot between the goal keeper and the near post. For the rest of the game Norway had little trouble keeping the home side scoreless. Azerbaijan only had a couple of long range efforts easily saved by Grodås. What was worrying was that the 3-5-2 formation which Norway started the game with, didn't work at all. The Azerbaijani players were more direct and offensive than expected, which gave the three-man defence and in particular Eggen some problems. Up front the Flo combination didn't work very well either. The two brothers didn't win all the expected high balls, and the midfield was also to slow to help them. Especially the two wide players, Strandli and Rudi, had to help out more in defence than what was intended. In the second half Norway switched back to their usual 4-5-1 formation, which provided a more stable defence, although the attacks were few and far between. When the Austrian referee blew his whistle, the Norwegian celebrations were obviously high. For the third time in hostory, and the second time in the lst four years they had qualified for the World Cup finals. Congratulations! PS! In the other game of the group Switzerland lost 1-2 at home to Finland, which would have meant that Norway would have qualified with only a draw against Azerbaijan anyway.