THESE are grim times for Norwegian football. After twice rising to No2 on the Fifa rankings, in 1993 and then again in 1995, those days seem no more than a fairy tale now that they have plummeted to 39th.
By common agreement in the media, that seems to be no more than the nation's football squad is worth.
On the eve of the Scotland game spirits seem to be at an all time low with the public voting that the home side have practically got the game wo
n before a shot is fired. The split is around 60-30 in favour of the Scots.
There is massive apathy about the game anyway. In 2008 the side has not managed a win and there is no expectation that that is about to change. Of those polled, 63 per cent say they could not care less what Norway does.
Blogs have reacted with fury to the coach's perceived conservatism: "It's always the same when you don't win," reacted coach Åge Hareide.
There are also serious reservations about the atmosphere in the dressing room with no-one wanting to talk outright about where the problem lies.
All the talk is about whether Aston Villa's John Carew is going to make it – he says he is – or, less likely, Steffen Iversen, the man who scored twice in the recent Iceland draw. Nothing will be decided by Hareide until the last minute. Hareide is caught between two stools. Does he risk Iversen and lose him for Wednesday's game against the Netherlands or give him extra time to rest?
In the background, Rosenborg have more than a passing interest in their man's health. "I have never known anything like it," says the coach referring to the injury list.
The uncertainty over the two-pronged attack has brought on a spell of the jitters with Hareide announcing he would play a 4-5-1 formation if Iversen did not make it and then changing his mind after Thursday's closed session at Clyde's Broadwood ground.
What the Norwegians fear most is Scotland's all-round physical game. "They play hard and 100 per cent for the 90 minutes," opined Carew, who knows the British game as well as anyone. Asked if he would react if provoked, he restricted himself to: "All I want to do is score."
Iversen scored the only goal of the game the last time these two met in Scotland in 2004, when Norway won 1-0 courtesy of a second-half penalty: "They're a totally different side now," he told VG. "They're much better."
The full article contains 439 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
