It’s the day we’ve all been waiting for, the day when Norway’s hopes of reaching the 2010 World Cup will be extinguished once and for all. Or will they?
In order to reach a play-off Norway probably need four points from these two internationals, and with the game away to Macedonia only yielding one that means Drillo’s dullards will have to decimate the Dutch. There are a number of reasons why this won’t happen, the most obvious of which being the fact that Norway aren’t very good at football.
Back when Åge Hareide was in the charge of the national team poor performances were invariably followed by angry editorials detailing how it was all his fault and how the national team needs to play more like they did when Drillo was in charge. Well, now Drillo is in charge and as it turns out Norway’s brave boys are still a bit rubbish, which has left the Norwegian football intelligentsia desperate and out of ideas. The general consensus is that it will take a divine intervention for Norway to get anything at all out of this game. And we’re talking a serious effort from the Big G, not some puny bush-burning nonsense, there is a sea of Orange that needs to be parted here.
As if Norway weren’t up against it already, they’ll have to go through this ordeal without their captain Brede Hangeland who picked up a silly booking against Macedonia and got himself suspended. Losing your captain is always bad, but in Hangeland Norway also lose the only central defender they have who looks even remotely comfortable at international level, which makes it that much worse. Replacing him in the Norwegian backline will most likely be Morten Fevang, who is a likable fella but is also 34 year old and has no international experience whatsoever (or pace, for that matter). It’s not ideal is it?
In other team-news, Daniel Braathen (who supposedly started against Macedonia, though no one can remember seing him there) will be dropped in favor of the rather more mobile Bjørn Helge Riise, while Per Ciljan Skjelbred will be dropped in favor of Henning Hauger.
Drillo himself has been remarkably bullish after the Macedonia snooze-fest, telling the press that having seen the game on DVD he didn’t think it was that bad and, hilariously, that Holland could learn a thing or two about attacking football by watching Norway. The only possible thing NFN can think of would be “how to avoid it altogether”.
These comments are eerily similar to comments he made ahead of the Germany-game back in February, and the similarities between that in encounter and tonight’s Dutch affair is the only cause for optimism in the Norwegian camp. A motivated Norwegian side versus a big footballing name that’s good but perhaps not as good as they think they are, and one that has nothing to play for to boot. It’s the ideal situation for Drillo, who only really thrives when he’s the underdog.
Still, taking into account just how monumentally awful Norway have been in their last three internationals (last three minutes aside they were horrible against Finland, in spite of the eventual win), they’re not going to go and beat Holland are they? Surely not.
Prediction: A Dutch long shot deflects off Morten Fevang’s backside and in after just five minutes, Norway defend valiantly and secure a 1-0 defeat.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Hope to see another scintillating performance from the Dutch.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Without sounding like a biased and inexplicably optimistic Norweigan, I don’t think you’ll get it. This is not a good Norway team, in fact all empirical evidence suggests it’s a terrible Norway team. That said, it’s pretty solidly organized and they have midfielders who can run all day, so I doubt the Dutch will run riot here.