Northern Ireland v Norway

SCOUTING REPORT Andy Greeves takes a closer look at Norway ahead of tonight’s UEFA Nations League clash in Belfast.

moves. When selected, Real Madrid’s Martin Ødegaard takes the majority of the side’s set pieces. Norway defend zonally, with their central midfielders covering the forward runs of their full-backs when required. They tend to mark man-to-man when defending set pieces but with two designated zonal players. STRENGTHS Lars Lagerbäck is blessed with a host of technically gifted, attack-minded players such as Martin Ødegaard and Erling Braut Håland who seemingly offer Norway a bright future. In September 2014 Ødegaard made his senior international debut at the age of just 15 and 300 days – making him the youngest player ever to play in a European Championship qualifier. His first international goal, against Romania last year, demonstrated his ability to run with the ball at ease and finish coolly. Håland (Haaland), meanwhile, who only celebrated his 20th birthday a few months ago, has already scored more than 60 goals and made over 100 senior club appearances for the likes of Bryne, Molde, Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund. Celtic’s Kristoffer Ajer is a consistent performer in Norway’s defence as is Sheffield United’s Sander Berge in midfield.

LOWDOWN Like Northern Ireland, Norway made it to the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs by virtue of their performances in the 2018-19 UEFA Nations League. Lars Lagerbäck’s side finished top of Group C3 while a third place finish in Group F of the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers meant they missed out on the automatic route to the finals. Norway were unbeaten during the calendar year of 2019 with home and away victories over Malta, a 4-0 triumph against the Faroe Islands and draws with Sweden, Spain and Romania – all in UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying matches. Prior to this evening’s match at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park, the Scandinavians opened their 2020-21 UEFA Nations League campaign with a home fixture against Austria last Friday. TACTICS While Norway are more of a possession- based side these days compared with their famed teams of the 1990s – they qualified for two World Cup tournaments – there is still an emphasis on knocking the ball directly from deep areas to the strikers when there is the opportunity to do so. More often, though, Norway’s attacks are fashioned from wide positions, with full- backs such as Haitam Aleesami and Omar Elabdellaoui supporting the team’s forward

POSSIBLE LINE-UP GK Rune Jarstein LB Haitam Aleesami CB Tore Reginiussen CB Kristoffer Ajer RB Omar Elabdellaoui LMMartin Ødegaard CM Sander Berge CM Stefan Johansen RMMarkus Henriksen FW Joshua King FW Erling Braut Håland

Many thanks to journalist Fabian Zerche (www.spox.com/at) for his assistance in the writing of this article. Many thanks to journalist Lars Johnsen for his assistance in the writing of this article. Lars is a life-long supporter of the Norwegian national team and a writer for the magazine and website Josimar (josimarfootball.com).