Norway on their way to Euro 2008..opinions?

As of now Norway only needs to draw home with Turkey, then control it in with a victory against Malta. If we beat the turks we're already qualified. If we lose you could say that we're in trouble, but Turkey have Bosnia left and could screw up there. No doubt the turks have more skill than us, but they seem badly organized and their morale ain't that high, hence draws against Malta and Moldova and a loss against Greece at home. They can still qualify but i would give Norway an 80 % chance to go trough.

But are there any opinions on the norwegian team here? The rest of the world seem always to have a dislike for it, the lack of skills in the play and tall physical players who tend to defend for a result is no doubt a big turn-off. We entered tournaments in 94, 98, and 2000, only to be slightly loathed i think.

Its difficult for us to produce more than that anyway. Half of the year the land is covered with snow and ice, there are mountains everywhere and we consist of only 5 million. At child level there seems to be a sort of mentality that don't allows individuals to shine, and players who have physical attributes rather than tecnical are always preferred. If some of you think the English hoof and poof too much, you should watch a game from the norwegian league!

We seem also to play it fair by the most of it, stupid (entertaining) controversies rarely occur. Cheating seems to be very ill regarded. So it's not that rare that we never seem to be mentioned, summing things up.

But it's great that we seem to take our chance now...qualifying for tournaments is not the normal for us. We have also been lucky by being in a poor group with inconsistent turks and a somewhat limited Greece as the highest rated teams.

How do you view Norway as a football nation? Do you care at all if they go to the Euros or no?

I hope they qualify , they have some talented players and everyone loves Solskjaer.

I think it was around the 1998-2002 time when Norwegian football was well known in England. You had the likes of Iversen, Leonardsen, Solksjaer, Flo, Berg and the Liverpool defender in your team and of course all of them played in the Premiership. Riise, Pedersen and Carew still fly the flag for you guys though in England. They are all good players.

I think Norway will qualify for the Euros. I'm not so sure how they will do if they get there though. I always consider Norway to be an unknown quantity, beating Brazil 2-1 in France 1998 is an example of this.

Norway is the ONLY nation never to have lost against Brazil !

Welcome, good to see a Norwegian poster. The board's diversity increases

As for your thread topic, like others have said, it's a bit hard to figure out Norway. They're never really visible, and don't have too many well known players so they pass under the radar. But Turkey aren't great this time, so it would be interesting to see Norway in the Euro.

I really hope so, the Norwegian people really need it and the chances are very fair. I never thought we'd manage it, but Turkey hasn't impressed me at all, and we would've (more or less) been ready for the Euro if it wasn't for those sad incidents with Myhre etc... This shows we are strong, just with some weak individuals in our team. But I believe we'll make it

Funny you should mention them.

I was reading up on the tournaments i have watched from 1990 onwards to now and Norway in the tournaments they have been in have been awful entertainment wise. Would not be a good advertisement for Euro 2008 if they qualify.

No secret that Norway had some really destructive coaches who played defensive football ala liverpool for a very long time. And I agree it sucked, but you can't view us from the previous tournaments and say you know we play $h!t football now, because we've changed playing style completely the last years Of course we might have boring games, but we don't rely on the 10 men defensive stuff anymore

i'm hoping you make it. got to support mr. carew

Welcome blehh, I see Norway as England minus the hype of their very influential media.

Solskjaer or Owen. I take your fellow Norwegian any day for my team. Gamst Petersen is Beckham with a football brain (apologies to Gamst for the comparison). I met a countryman of yours in Miami once, and he said how he LOVED to beat the Swedes at anything.

i will kill my self if norway manage to qualify and denmark dont. allthough norway had a easier group.
i would be nice to see scandinavi be more represented then only sweden.

Everything looks in your favour with the home draw and malta.

It is good to see different teams qualify, so I would be happy to see Norway there. You've got a couple of free-kick specialists in your squad, so hopefully you'll score some goals

supermadrid wrote:i will kill my self if norway manage to qualify and denmark dont. allthough norway had a easier group.
i would be nice to see scandinavi be more represented then only sweden.

I wouldn't say that if I were you, you're practically out (if sweden-spain is a draw then you are out I think).

Puro wrote: I see Norway as England minus the hype of their very influential media.

I see Peru as Wales with less sheep and higher mountains.

Well it comes down to the battle of 2nd spot.
NORWAY v TURKEY.
That can go either way.
But I won't be surprised if the Turks come away with the victory.

So let's see who will join the Greeks for a trip to Austria/Switzerland.

Time will tell !!!!

blehh wrote:As of now Norway only needs to draw home with Turkey, then control it in with a victory against Malta. If we beat the turks we're already qualified. If we lose you could say that we're in trouble, but Turkey have Bosnia left and could screw up there. No doubt the turks have more skill than us, but they seem badly organized and their morale ain't that high, hence draws against Malta and Moldova and a loss against Greece at home. They can still qualify but i would give Norway an 80 % chance to go trough.

But are there any opinions on the norwegian team here? The rest of the world seem always to have a dislike for it, the lack of skills in the play and tall physical players who tend to defend for a result is no doubt a big turn-off. We entered tournaments in 94, 98, and 2000, only to be slightly loathed i think.

Its difficult for us to produce more than that anyway. Half of the year the land is covered with snow and ice, there are mountains everywhere and we consist of only 5 million. At child level there seems to be a sort of mentality that don't allows individuals to shine, and players who have physical attributes rather than tecnical are always preferred. If some of you think the English hoof and poof too much, you should watch a game from the norwegian league!

We seem also to play it fair by the most of it, stupid (entertaining) controversies rarely occur. Cheating seems to be very ill regarded. So it's not that rare that we never seem to be mentioned, summing things up.

But it's great that we seem to take our chance now...qualifying for tournaments is not the normal for us. We have also been lucky by being in a poor group with inconsistent turks and a somewhat limited Greece as the highest rated teams.

How do you view Norway as a football nation? Do you care at all if they go to the Euros or no?

you could thank us mate!!!
here in Greece we all prefer Norway instead of Turkey...
and i would be happy 2 qualify together

I'll be hoping Turkey win...sorry.

Turkey will win. Mark my words.
Turkey is very good in do or die matches.
Norway will play defensive, and will pay dearly.

Go Norway!!

First of all I dont want those mental turks celebrating in my street, and second...if Turkey doesnt qualify..less media attention for Sahin

summer sizzler wrote:Turkey will win. Mark my words.
Turkey is very good in do or die matches.
Norway will play defensive, and will pay dearly.

Which games are you refering to here?

They lost to the Swiss in a World Cup playoff not so long ago.

Cesc wrote:

summer sizzler wrote:Turkey will win. Mark my words.
Turkey is very good in do or die matches.
Norway will play defensive, and will pay dearly.

Which games are you refering to here?

They lost to the Swiss in a World Cup playoff not so long ago.

They also...

Drew with Malta when they needed a win...
Drew with Moldova when they needed a win...
Lost to their fierce rivals (Greece) on home soil...

If anything, Turkey are bottling under big time pressure.

Norway was one of those countries that had a specific style of football (like England with a flat 4-4-2, Holland with their 4-3-3) whereby the played 4-3-3.

Unlike, the dutch however, their wide men up front were big strikers rather than wingers and they used to hit long diagonal balls to the "winger" so that he would be challenging with a full back (no contest).

Graham Taylor got slaughtered for playing Gary Pallister as a full back in Norway but I can see where he was coming from.

Also Flo's goal v Brazil in WC '98 was a good example as I think he came in from wide to outmuscle the full back.

Didn't Steffan Iversen knock Milan out of the CL one year by coming from a wide position to head in the winner (or was that my imagination?)

Egil Olsen managed Wimbledon in 99/00 and used Marcus Gayle and Carl Cort as his "wingers" !!! (with Hartson in the middle).

However - Wimbledon got relegated.

I guess the English are much better at handling that sort of physical game.

He did do the double on Graham Taylor's Watford though including an absolute spanking at Selhurst - I guess Graham Couldn't play against this style of football which is very suprising !

Do Norway still play like this ?

I know Carew played right wing ofr them before and MG Pedersen is better in the air than you think !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egil_Olsen

The "football philosophy" bit explains it well.

Pierre Littbarski wrote:Norway was one of those countries that had a specific style of football (like England with a flat 4-4-2, Holland with their 4-3-3) whereby the played 4-3-3.

Unlike, the dutch however, their wide men up front were big strikers rather than wingers and they used to hit long diagonal balls to the "winger" so that he would be challenging with a full back (no contest).

Graham Taylor got slaughtered for playing Gary Pallister as a full back in Norway but I can see where he was coming from.

Also Flo's goal v Brazil in WC '98 was a good example as I think he came in from wide to outmuscle the full back.

Didn't Steffan Iversen knock Milan out of the CL one year by coming from a wide position to head in the winner (or was that my imagination?)

Egil Olsen managed Wimbledon in 99/00 and used Marcus Gayle and Carl Cort as his "wingers" !!! (with Hartson in the middle).

However - Wimbledon got relegated.

I guess the English are much better at handling that sort of physical game.

He did do the double on Graham Taylor's Watford though including an absolute spanking at Selhurst - I guess Graham Couldn't play against this style of football which is very suprising !

Do Norway still play like this ?

I know Carew played right wing ofr them before and MG Pedersen is better in the air than you think !

It was Vegard Heggem who sent Milan out of the CL, a good prospect that ended up at Liverpool but had his career ruined by injuries. Iversen made a similar goal against Spain in Euro 2000, you may confuse it with that.

Norway still play at their strengths nowadays, but we have developed a little more possession-orientated play. With an optimal team we play a broken 4-3-3 with Carew in centre and Iversen as a "winger". Gamst Pedersen brings a little more flair on the other side. The formation just seems fitted to the best players we have by now.

The midfield and the defense are much the same as before, a slow holding man with a fair amount of skill is helped by one frenzied midfielder at each side. The defense is all made of towering men without any special pace or skill. We had better players in the 90's, but perhaps we play a little more positive now.

Don't think there will any success at an eventual euro anyway, our style is very difficult to pull off in the heat. Can't see us produce the moments that will make differences either.

blehh wrote:

Pierre Littbarski wrote:Norway was one of those countries that had a specific style of football (like England with a flat 4-4-2, Holland with their 4-3-3) whereby the played 4-3-3.

Unlike, the dutch however, their wide men up front were big strikers rather than wingers and they used to hit long diagonal balls to the "winger" so that he would be challenging with a full back (no contest).

Graham Taylor got slaughtered for playing Gary Pallister as a full back in Norway but I can see where he was coming from.

Also Flo's goal v Brazil in WC '98 was a good example as I think he came in from wide to outmuscle the full back.

Didn't Steffan Iversen knock Milan out of the CL one year by coming from a wide position to head in the winner (or was that my imagination?)

Egil Olsen managed Wimbledon in 99/00 and used Marcus Gayle and Carl Cort as his "wingers" !!! (with Hartson in the middle).

However - Wimbledon got relegated.

I guess the English are much better at handling that sort of physical game.

He did do the double on Graham Taylor's Watford though including an absolute spanking at Selhurst - I guess Graham Couldn't play against this style of football which is very suprising !

Do Norway still play like this ?

I know Carew played right wing ofr them before and MG Pedersen is better in the air than you think !

It was Vegard Heggem who sent Milan out of the CL, a good prospect that ended up at Liverpool but had his career ruined by injuries. Iversen made a similar goal against Spain in Euro 2000, you may confuse it with that.

Norway still play at their strengths nowadays, but we have developed a little more possession-orientated play. With an optimal team we play a broken 4-3-3 with Carew in centre and Iversen as a "winger". Gamst Pedersen brings a little more flair on the other side. The formation just seems fitted to the best players we have by now.

The midfield and the defense are much the same as before, a slow holding man with a fair amount of skill is helped by one frenzied midfielder at each side. The defense is all made of towering men without any special pace or skill. We had better players in the 90's, but perhaps we play a little more positive now.

Don't think there will any success at an eventual euro anyway, our style is very difficult to pull off in the heat. Can't see us produce the moments that will make differences either.

That's it.

Hope you do well if you get there.