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The Norwegian “emergency national team” exceeded everyone’s expectations and was about to win Wednesday’s Nations League game against Austria in Vienna. An overtime score by the hosts ensured it 1-1, but that took nothing away from the performance.
Praise the battle plan
National team coach Lars Lagerbäck, who was out of the game as a result of the crown fight last week, is impressed with the substitutes.
These players should get more internationals
– A big congratulations to Leif Gunnar, all the support staff and all the players, says Lagerbäck.
He says his team shared the accumulated information about Austria with Smerud, but that they did not participate beyond that.
– As a “loser”, I mean they completed the match tactically almost perfectly. The team effort and work was the closest to 100 percent that a team can achieve. I am very impressed with the behavior of the players and they show how important attitude and team interaction is in football. His tactics with a compact and aggressive defensive game combined with a counter-oriented attacking game were implemented very well, says Lagerbäck.
– Everything is possible
He had to see the game that could give Norway a group victory in the Nations League, and thus promotion to the highest level, from the good seat. Omar Elabdellaoui’s positive covid-19 test and the chaos that followed meant that the Norwegian Football Association had to assemble a national team in no time.
NFF has asked justification for the Romanian defeat
– I’ve never experienced that before as a national coach. But that’s how it turned out, and we can’t do anything about it, says Lagerbäck, who comes up with his analysis of the sofa.
– Statistics do not always give a true picture of a match, but in this match my experience in front of the television screen matches well with how the match was. This is what makes soccer so fascinating: that a weaker team on paper always has a chance to win against a better team. With good tactics, the right attitude and a lot of work effort, it’s always possible, says Lagerbäck.
– In addition to the good result and performance, the match sends an important signal to Football Norway. The team showed why you can beat teams that are better on paper. That signal is also good for quarantined leaders and players to experience. He is always good with those reminders.
Alert evaluation
Lagerbäck’s assistant, Per Joar Hansen, was also impressed.
Per Joar Hansen and Lars Lagerbäck. Photo: Vegard Wivestad Grøtt / BILDBYRÅN
– It was a team full of commitment and joy to play. They had the will to win the match. It was very impressive with such an achievement in such a short time. All tribute to the coach, to the support staff and not least to the players, Hansen tells TV 2.
He does not want to remove individual players, but admits that the performance was above expectations.
– When the team works so well, everyone demonstrated excellence in their roles, says Hansen.
He remembers an absurd week where the situation changed from hour to hour. From preparing for the match against Israel, getting canceled shortly before kickoff, and then getting a travel denial to Romania …
Now the parties involved will assess how to handle the situation.
– That’s what we have to find out now. We need to sit down and see how we accept this. It’s probably good to step back before you sit down and see what we’ve done, says Hansen.
– Everyone knows that we are in a global pandemic. We respect that. But what strikes me is that there are many experts in one or the other. It is interesting to see how many think. Of course, talking is allowed. But it is interesting to see that many know more than we who give in the inner life. We must comply with the laws and regulations that come from the health authorities and the government. We must be loyal to what is decided.
