Norway's Journey to Africa (World Cup 2010 Qualifying) [R]

The trip starts Saturday, in Oslo against Iceland!

Full schedule:

vs Iceland (Sept 6, 2008)
at Scotland (Oct 11, 2008)
vs Netherlands (Oct 15, 2008)
at Macedonia (June 6, 2009)
at Netherlands (June 10, 2009)
vs Scotland (Aug 12, 2009)
at Iceland (Sept 5, 2009)
vs Macedonia (Sept 9, 2009)

Heia Norge!

What a start already, Macedonia beat Scotland 1-0! Yes!

Now let's get the job done against Iceland.

Finally broke through in the 36th minute with a penalty kick, Iversen scored.

But then Helguson scored on a 30 meter shot just minutes later to tie it!! WHAT!

Iversen!!! GOOOOOAAALLLL!! 2-1 Norway!

Gudjohnsen equalizes... damnit!

Sonofa... how do we concede TWO goals to a team in a 4-5-1 formation?? WTF


Macedonia - 3 pts +1 GD
Norway - 1 pt +0 GD
Iceland - 1 pt +0 GD
Holland - 0 pts +0 GD (did not play yet)
Scotland - 0 pts -1 GD


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Very disappointing start for Norway. What the hell was Hareide thinking when he replaced Carew with Gamst?

Why is Hareide still the coach? We will never qualify to anything with him in charge.

Belarus, Italy, Scotland, Greece, Bosnia, Turkey, now Iceland... how many points do we have to drop at home before there is a change??

Highlights: http://www.skysportshd1.com/video.php?v=334

Dreadful. We give away too many easy goals. The World Cup dream is basically over on the opening day of the qualifying campaign.

This time next year when we approach the end, I bet we will be knocking ourselves for the points dropped tonight.

Well the road to the WC is a long one, You stumbled against Iceland but can correct the strategy for later on.

Holland beat Macedonia and Scotland beat Iceland on Matchday 2 (Norway were idle) so the standings look like this:

Holland - 3
Scotland - 3
Macedonia - 3
Norway - 1
Iceland - 1

We have a game-in-hand against Iceland, Scotland, and Macedonia, so maybe not as bad as it could have been, but we're already 2 points behind Holland... :/

Win the next two and that won't be a problem.

Scotland 0 - 0 Norway :/

Netherlands 2 - 0 Iceland


Holland - 6
Scotland - 4
Macedonia - 3
Norway - 2
Iceland - 1

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What are you guys expecting/hoping for against Holland? We pretty much need a win against them since it's in Oslo.

Also, I didn't get a chance to see the game. Was it a good draw (meaning we were fairly lucky to avoid losing) or was it a bad draw (we probably should have won)?

I'd say it was a pretty good draw, at least when you consider this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK5EZzNyZRg

Other than that, the game was pretty even, although Scotland might have been the better team most of the time. But Norway was actually credited with most goal scoring opportunies, with the best one coming in the '85th minute when Gamst Pedersen did a great pass to Iversen who came alone with the goal keeper who in turn did a great save, and then Braaten also had a chance after that but hit a defender. Carew also did some good runs during the match.

Norway were in need of a draw in Scotland, so its a good result... They will need a win against the Dutch if they are to win the group, but even if Norway are to finish 2nd, they are probably going to need 1 point at home against the Dutch... and then most surely also a point in Macedonia... Otherwise, the last 3 games for Norway in this group are all a 'must win'...
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Well it's 0-0 at half time.

Norway looked very timid for the first 25-30 minutes but really went after Holland for the rest of the half. Hopefully we can keep it up in the second half and break through for a goal or two.

God damnit

We just have no offense. Every time Carew gets the ball he is facing AWAY from the goal and there is NO ONE to pass to. Give him some damn help!!

Iversen has been absolute garbage today too. Do we really not have anyone who can replace him?

2 points from 3 games (2 home, 1 against Iceland) is absolutely pitiful and a disgrace. Iceland is beating Macedonia right now and if that result holds we will be in LAST PLACE! UNACCEPTABLE!

It is good that Iceland took points from Macedonia, becuase they could have turned out to be a dangerous challenger for the 2nd spot.

I see it in the way that Norway has lost 2 points only, in the first game against Iceland. At Hampden Park many big teams has lost points and struggled, but Norway managed to get 1 and Netherlands at home was never really expected to be 3 points. So 2-3 (expected) points have been lost if you want to see it from the positive side. But Norway has to change something, and now there are 6 months to do so, instead of just 3.

i think we need to bring back Johnsen from Japan to replace Iversen

Norway has appointed DRILLO to be the manager for the next three friendlies and most likely he will stay on to guide us to the World Cup.

This is great news!

I on the other hand believe, that signing "Drillo" was the worst possible mistake....

It's like the Norwegian FA have been "running in circles" the past many years and think that a Norwegian NT can only be coached by "Drillo" or some other Norwegian coach, while reality is that Norway badly need some new inspiration. So Norway need to sign a foreign coach for a change, but I fear that they signed "Drillo" on a short-term deal because they were not able to get Ståle Solbakken before the end of the Danish season.
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