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OSLO / VIENNA (VG) Only victory is enough if Norway wants to take the group victory in the Nations League. Austria are a huge favorite, but there is optimism in the players past and present.
– It is a team that has an incredible amount of football. If you dare to get carried away and forget about the opportunity a bit, then there is a great opportunity for all these players to show that they have something to do at this level, says Jens Petter Hauge to VG.
The Milan player, like the rest of the A team, was denied travel to Romania to play the first of two Nations League matches.
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There, UEFA has decided that the result will be a 0-3 defeat for Norway. However, now there is a hungry band in Vienna trying to perform a football miracle.
A group victory in the Nations League may provide an additional opportunity to reach the World Cup final in Qatar in 2022. Norway has to score at least two goals and win the match to beat Austria in a mutual agreement.
– We can also play soccer. We haven’t assembled a 6th division team. We are here to compete. We are looking forward, Ruben Gabrielsen told TV 2 after arriving in Gardermoen from Toulouse.
Gabrielsen has been on various national teams without a chance. Wednesday night starts in midfield.
– Austria are clearly the favorites, but if you look at our squad I think we also have some interesting players. If we use them correctly and find a spark, then anything can happen, said the national team’s emergency captain, Mats Møller Dæhli, at the press conference the night before the game.
Jens Petter Hauge was performing a small miracle together with Bodø / Glimt when they visited Milan earlier this fall. Now he hopes that the emergency national team can do something similar in Austria.
– I hope they manage to loosen up and seize the opportunity. In football there are many coincidences. I wouldn’t be surprised if they play the game of their lives, says Hauge, who showed in training that he could have something to contribute in Vienna:
Also in the VGTV studio, there is optimism in former national team captain Kjetil Rekdal.
– I think the opportunity is there. It’s not big, of course, but it’s there. We haven’t sent fans here, Rekdal says.
– The team is weaker than our real national team, but it is not as weaker as people want. If you hit with tactics, you’re a bit lucky, and you’re off to a good start, then the game begins. Of course Austria are a clear favorite, but I don’t see it as an impossible task that we can win this match, says Kjetil Rekdal in the VG studio.
– I’m not as optimistic as Kjetil. Player by player, we are way behind this band, and the team here today is way behind the original A-team from Norway, says Bernt Hulsker.
Former national team player Jan Åge Fjørtoft has previously gone to great lengths to announce that he believes in Norwegian cheers in Vienna.
– I hope that Norway with their new heroic national team will beat Austria, Fjørtoft told VG.
VG Live: Follow the game here!
National team forward Joshua King is also optimistic, although he must follow the game from home.
– I think there are many who feel they have something to prove. There isn’t much bigger than being able to play with the flag on your chest. I wish the guys good luck and hope they succeed in impressing the country. They have no pressure on them. They just have to go out there and give it their all. Enough is enough, he tells TV 2.
The game starts at 8:45 p.m. and is broadcast on TV 2 and TV 2 Sumo!
