Red Flames miss out on direct World Cup ticket after narrow home loss to Norway

The Red Flames, Belgium’s national women’s football team, failed to pull off a knock against Norway in a sold-out Den Dreef in Leuven on Friday night in the ninth and penultimate game of the Cup preliminary round World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand. They lost 0-1. This makes the tallest dams achievable.

Norway are certain of group victory with 25 points, while Belgium have 19 coins on the clock and Poland are also not completely finished with 17 coins.

Tuva Hansen (61.) assured the Norwegians qualification for the World Cup with the only goal. To still become group winners and qualify directly for the final round, Belgium had to beat the Scandinavians by five goals.

At best, Ives Serneels’ side now find themselves in the play-offs, which are a lottery. Moreover, the FIFA World Football Association has designed a very complex system for this edition. Only the three best number twos qualify directly for the second and final round of the play-offs, the other six teams must first complete a first round.

Of the three winners of the second round of the play-offs, only the top two qualify for the World Cup. Number three is still awaiting an intercontinental play-off. For this final score, the results of the second round matches are added to the number two ranking.
The tenth and final game of the preliminary round against the Armenian football dwarf is still scheduled for Tuesday. Provided with a point, the dams are a fact.