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EXCLUDES: Rune Almenning Jarstein and the Norwegian men’s soccer team. Photo: Bjørn Steinar Delebekk
ULLEVAAL STADION (VG) (Norway-Serbia 1-2, eeo) Well, there is a lot of talent in this, the Norwegian national team, offensively. But the reverse is for long periods so weak that Norway deservedly has to wait at least two more years before seeing players like Haaland and Ødegaard in a playoff.
This is a comment. The comment expresses the attitude of the writer.
On the first goal, they lined up to score. In the decisive goal, three Serbs were left alone in front of goal. Even the Serbs scared by the shots did not abuse that opportunity, and Norway will not attend the European Championship either, now either.
And it is fully deserved.
The match, with Norwegian eyes, was a great disappointment. Almost from start to finish, with a few minor exceptions, and a fantastic goalkeeper play from Rune Almenning Jarstein. Without such a good goalkeeper, Thursday night could have been ugly in Ullevaal.
Serbia won the well-deserved semi-final at the Ullevaal Stadium. Norway barely lined up and for long periods Lars Lagerbäck’s boys and men were outclassed. It says a bit that Serbia’s winning goal, in the second extra round, came on the 11th scoring opportunity created by the Serbs.
Out in a decisive match. By then Norway had created three or four and was lucky to get extra tickets.
Norway has no direct control of play-off matches or deciding matches at all. Two defeats against Spain in 2003, two defeats against the Czech Republic in 2005 and two defeats against Hungary in 2015, were the deciding factor before yesterday’s game.
At the moment, Lars Lagerbäck is unable to shake off the “worst when it comes to” label that Norway’s A team in men’s football has had for the past 20 years.
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In Norway, it has become “so close, but still not close enough.” Where country after country travels to the playoffs, Norwegian soccer players are at home. It has become an unpleasant habit, with partial excuses that are not good enough, all the time.
Now Serbia is not a bad opponent, ranking 31st in the FIFA rankings while Norway is 44th. But at Ullevaal on Thursday night, the gap seemed much greater.
It is of little help to find a pair of good European class forwards, as they rarely or never get the ball. And scoring in his own field, on posts and set pieces was catastrophic for long periods, including both scores.
You won’t make the playoffs with such rookie mistakes. But I’ve pointed it out many times before: Where have the midfielders gone, the ones who managed to defend their own goal? They are absent. If Lars Lagerbäck fails to do something with this, quickly, we can probably forget about WC 2022 as well.
There were many, especially in fact, who did not vote before the recess. Norway was lucky not to be left behind, but it was 0-0
From the notes:
10 min .: «Norway is playing football. It can’t work. “
12 min: “It must involve more Martin Ødegaard”.
22 min: “Little Who is voting here.”
25 min .: “Zero chances for Norway, at home”.
30 min .: «Captain Johansen leaves with Lars Lagerbäck and goalkeeping coach Frode Grodås again. Something is wrong.”
And there it is: nothing was true.
From the notes again: “Too wide – no tempo.”
Then there is a break.
Something has to happen after 15 minutes, which most of the time changes football matches. Is it happening today too?
Well, it started with substitute Mathias Normann getting a yellow card after two minutes.
“A signal?” it was noted.
But then it was as if the first part was replayed. The first quarter was similar to the previous 45 minutes, and had it not been for goalkeeper Rune Almenning Jarstein, this match would have been played after 60 minutes.
“Jarstein saves Norway” and “Norway hangs by the ropes”, after a great save from Jarstein and a bad head from Serbia.
“Another chance ends up in Jarstein’s lap,” I scribbled.
COMMENT: VGs Knut Espen Svegaarden. Photo: BJØRN S. DELEBEKK
It took 70 minutes before Martin Ødegaard was framed, for which he was fired. The shot was high. Rune Jarstein saved with another good save, this time with a long shot from Aleksandar Kolarov. And a quarter of an hour before the end, King went to the semifinals.
Norway was a little better. A little.
Then Serbia scored. It had to come, in the end, but actually it would have been better if the goal came before the break than after 81 minutes.
But then it seemed that substitute Mathias Normann was already fed up with nothing happening. Two minutes before full time, he grabbed the ball with his bare legs, walked and walked, and that shot saved additional innings for Lars Lagerbäck and Norway.
Strictly speaking, it was not deserved, we must be that honest.
And it couldn’t last either.
Norway has many qualities. But they are also missing a lot, and it reveals against teams that are at the same level, or better than Norway.
But we always have the League of Nations …
