– I lost my grandmother – VG

The 25-year-old from Oslozano was left blank during the TV 2 interview after the draw in the “group final” of the Nations League. On the phone to VG shortly before midnight, he reveals what he says in the description that it has been a “hard fall, also for me personally.”

– I lost my grandmother this fall. I thought about what he would say if he saw me as the captain of Norway and what he would say if he saw me play this game. That was it, and how everyone on the team quickly became friends and found each other. He was very proud of the whole team and how the support staff arranged that plan in just one day, attests Mats Møller Dæhli.

He was appointed by substitute coach Leif Gunnar Smerud as captain of Norway’s game against Austria. Dæhlis 24. for Norway. Based on his play in Vienna, he was not the last, not even when a top-tier pick returns.

– I’m incredibly happy, proud. It bothered me when we let in, but we had to have two, and then it doesn’t matter much. We lost a bit of structure, then we had to start making changes and people fell down with cramps. There was the “incredible” technical team. They constantly had to adapt to what was happening on the field, says the 25-year-old.

The most experienced emergency pick was a whiplash on the left wing and he appeared as a pointing player: Constantly under pressure with the yellow bandage on his left arm. It could also have made it 1-0 when the long legs of 20-year-old rookie Jørgen Strand Larsen played it after 53 minutes.

Dæhli broke free from Martin Hinteregger, but the Austrian defender seemed to approach him ruthlessly so that Norway could be punished. The Genk player still finished off, and with a cramp in his right leg, he sent the ball just off the longest post.

– It was later that I realized that it was a penalty situation. The problem is that I am an overly honest soccer player. It is not always positive. And it’s typical of me not to score, I must say. But that’s okay since Ghayas scored afterwards, remember.

– Did you manage to think that you could have gone to the ground and maybe be punished?

– No. But if there is a clear contact, I have to go down. Because then there is the punishment. It’s a shame on my part, he says self-critic.

– How did the underdog feel before the game? Did it feel like a regular international match or was it something different?

– Totally different. It was especially sick, we had to get to know each other in a short time and we had a lot of one-on-one conversations for two or three minutes here and there. Amazing how everyone came with energy and humor. Once we made a plan, we started to believe that we could put up a good fight. Then came the nervousness too. Then you don’t have the feeling of total underdog, describes the Belgian pro, replaced by his clubmate Kristian Thorstvedt after 67 minutes.

Hard start in Genk

The 25-year-old left the German cult club St. Pauli in favor of Genk in January, which surprised most people a bit. In the 11 months he has managed to experience four coaches and that crown sprout abruptly ended the league this spring.

Danish Jess Thorup retired when he took over FC Copenhagen after Ståle Solbakken, and following the arrival of a Belgian substitute, Dutchman John van den Brom is now Mats Møller Dæhli’s boss.

– It was also hard. I have not played anything and they have removed me from the squad. I feel like the way I show today is the level that I have been at all along. It is not an easy situation, but I had a good feeling towards this match, says Dæhli and explains why:

– I played a training match on Friday, I scored a goal, I had a scorer and I got a penalty. He hadn’t played in two or three months, so the 30 minutes was important. It’s good to get paid when I’ve trained well all the time, although the situation has been difficult, he says.

He has had conversations with Genk’s management about the future, but that was before the manager change:

– So now you don’t have much to say. Now there are blank sheets with a new coach, and then we will see what happens. So this was important, says the offensive midfield with just 20 minutes of playing time for the club team since August.