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Confirmation came on Saturday night that Sunday’s match against Romania had been canceled. Shortly after, the elite NFF director, Lise Klaveness, confirmed that they are considering putting together an emergency national team for the match against Austria.
Should national team players be quarantined in Norway?
However, he knew that no decision had been made. An emergency national team means that new players and supporters are added who are not in quarantine.
The match is scheduled to be played on Wednesday in Vienna and will decide who will flee with the group winner.
TV 2 soccer expert Jesper Mathisen introduces the players he thinks are relevant to a Norwegian “B-team”.
Mathisen emphasizes that all proposals are subject to an injury situation and, indeed, a practical opportunity to carry it out. It has also taken into account that all players outside of Europe, such as Ole Selnæs, Tarik Elyounoussi, Ola Kamara and Bjørn Maars Johnsen, are not relevant for travel reasons.
Hauge and Bråtveit may be relevant
A final element that can affect the withdrawal of a potential emergency squad is the quarantine provisions for people who have previously been diagnosed with the COVID-19 infection. Both Jens Petter Hauge and Per Kristian Bråtveit, who have been with the team, have had the virus this fall.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health writes on its website that close contacts who during the last six months have had the virus documented by an approved laboratory infection are exempt from quarantine. However, it is not known whether Hauge and Bråtveit will be exempt from a possible match against Austria.
Bråtveit joined the team on Saturday.
Morten Thorsby probably won’t get an exception. The Sampdoria player was diagnosed with the virus in March, more than six months ago.
Coach
– It is natural that, for example, Leif-Gunnar Smerud of the U21 team will be in charge of this match, and then go into quarantine when he returns home.
Of the more resistant proposals, of course it would have been fun with a man like Henning Berg or maybe even Ståle Solbakken, but of course it is not possible given the situation. But he’ll have that job in the future anyway, Mathisen says humorously.
Jesper Mathisen anticipates that Leif Gunnar Smerud will lead a possible team against Austria. Photo: Fredrik Hagen
Guardians
– Per Kristian Bråtveit had already joined the team, but he will be a natural choice here if he receives an exception from quarantine. Furthermore, it is reasonable to assume that a man like Ørjan Håskjold Nyland had been asked, because although he does not have a club at the moment, he has been Norway’s undisputed second choice in recent years. However, an operation puts an end to it, and then, for example, Mathias Dyngeland may be a current reserve. Former Viking goalkeeper Anders Kristiansen of the Belgian Union Saint-Gilloise may also be relevant, says Mathisen.
Per Kristian Bråtveit was called up as a reserve for the Romania game and had already joined the team when it was canceled. Now the question is whether he will be exempt from quarantine rules since he has had the coronavirus this fall. Photo: Simon Hastegård / BILDBYRÅN
Defending
– We have a right-back in Andreas Vindheim who plays in the Europa League with Sparta Prague, but who, of course, has not been tested in the A team. The same can be said for Aslak Fonn-Witry, who has done well at the Allsvenskan for Djurgården. Of the blocks, both Ruben Gabrielsen and Andreas Hanche-Olsen have been on the roster without playing, so both should be relevant. Hanche-Olsen himself had a positive coronal test some time ago and stood in front of the match for his Ghent, but then tested negative after the match and was clearly not infected anyway.
– Thomas Rogne and Adrian Pereira, also Europa League players in Lech Poznan in Poland and PAOK in Greece, respectively, should also be relevant. Julian Ryerson may be relevant from the Bundesliga club Union Berlin, but the biggest outsider here is Håvard Nordtveit, Mathisen notes.
Lech Poznan player Thomas Rogne may be relevant for an emergency national team. Here with his wife Ada Hegerberg. Photo: Jon Olav Nesvold / BILDBYRÅN
– In his day, one of Lagerbäck’s most trusted men, and one who had signaled that he would join the national team after the European Championship. Now it will not be the European Championship, but Nordtveit has stayed in the heat and was in Oslo more recently the previous meeting to nurture contact with the environment. He came back from injury and played half an hour for Hoffenheim in the Europa League last week, and will be the natural captain and leader of a team like this.
Midfield
– Jens Petter Hauge will naturally be important if you get an exception from quarantine. Håkon Evjen doesn’t play much in the Dutch first team with AZ Alkmaar, but he also got half an hour in the Europa League against as good a rival as Real Sociedad last week. We must not forget that he was the best player in the Elite Series last year and a man with great potential, believes Mathisen.
Håkon Evjen is struggling with playing time for top club AZ Alkmaar. Photo: Manfred Binder / BILDBYRÅN
– The same goes for Kristoffer Askildsen, who at 19 has already played Serie A games with Sampdoria this season. Fredrik Ulvestad makes his case strong in Djurgården, was on team last year and is probably a puncher on team B.
– Of the exciting names of the extremes, I would like to highlight Zlatko Tripic, Ghayas Zahid and Mats Møller Dæhli. They all have X factor that can be helpful. The latter has been injured, but I think I saw on one of Kristian Thorstvedt’s many social media accounts that his teammate in Belgium is training with the ball again.
Sampdoria-Askildsen: – Norway could have had the best under-21 national team in the world
– Thorstvedt himself can also be a joker to pull at the end. Finally, I would also like to highlight my old friend from Kristiansand, Sondre Tronstad. He does his thing right at Vitesse, and he can come as a surprise in a squad that basically just consists of surprises.
Attack
– We will finally see Tokki for Norway! It’s almost been a popular demand after the Champions League teaser this fall, but still Tokmac Nguen wasn’t eliminated from the original squad. It surprised many then, but ironically it may be exactly what saves Norway after all.
Tokmac straight from the Ferencváros wardrobe: – Just because you’re from Drammen!
– The Ferencvaros player has rhythm, technique, ability to score goals and has already shown a clue that he can get ahead against the best. He takes the short journey from neighboring Hungary to zero commas, and he is already, even before anything is confirmed, the player I am clearly most looking forward to in Wednesday’s game.
– Besides Tokki, it seems natural to me that both Fredrik Gulbrandsen and Jørgen Strand Larsen are part of that team and that one of them starts the match. Gulbrandsen entered the scorers list of his last Istanbul Basaksehir, and Strand Larsen scores goals for a team with Arjen Robben in the Dutch first division.
– Alexander Søderlund now plays in Sweden and is also a natural man to have in such a team. Another forward quarter may be Torgeir Børven, although goals came more frequently in Norwegian football than in Turkey. However, I look forward to seeing on Twitter how your club presents a possible national team in the 11th hour.
Fredrik Ulvestad (left) and Alexander Söderlund are presented as candidates for a possible squad by Jesper Mathisen. Photo: Carl Sandin / BILDBYRÅN
Doubts for teenagers
– Besides all these, you have young guys around, like Fiabema, Aarøen, Kjølø and Arnstad. All of these have appeared outside of Norway’s borders in recent weeks, but I don’t think any of them will get minutes in this match here. There will be more experienced players who will have to do the job, predicts Mathisen.
