2023-11-20 13:32:41
A Sylvinho in fusion among the Albanian supporters on Friday and a Milan Skriniar quietly qualifying his Slovak selection for the 2024 European Championship. This is also the legacy of Michel Platini, the man who launched the 24-team Euro from the 2016 edition in France (compared to 16 before): Wales, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Hungary, Finland, Austria, North Macedonia, Scotland, and so Albania and Slovakia have all taken advantage of this reform for seven years to participate in the party. Yet we find an irreducible nation, supposedly not so small, which has struggled to avoid every major football competition since 2000.
And yes, we are talking about Norway, already eliminated from the race for Euro 2024, due to third place in its qualifying group (10 points from Spain and 6 from the ‘Scotland), and not “redraftable” via the latest edition of the Nations League. But how is such a fiasco possible when you have in your ranks a scoring machine like Erling Haaland, second in the recent Ballon d’Or vote? The Manchester City striker is so incredible and consistent at club level (17 goals in 16 games this season, after his 51-goal carnage in 2022-2023) that we imagine him to have a Gareth Bale-like destiny, capable of carrying the country of Wales in the semi-final of Euro 2016 almost single-handedly.
“There has been a culture of failure for more than twenty years in Norway”
And yet, since his debut for the selection at the age of 19 in September 2019, the phenomenal scorer has not allowed his country to qualify for Euro 2021 (third in group behind Spain and Sweden, play-off lost against Serbia), for the 2022 World Cup (third behind the Netherlands and Turkey), nor now for the 2024 edition in Germany. Rest assured, Erling Haaland remains in his mutant standards when he puts on the Norwegian jersey, with 27 goals in 29 caps, including six on this qualifying campaign for Euro 2024. Is the 23-year-old captain already as iconic and inspiring a leader as Gareth Bale or Zlatan Ibrahimovic could be with Sweden?
“We talk a lot about Haaland’s supposed failure but he will personally quickly explode Jorgen Juve’s goals record with the selection [33 buts dans les années 1930], explains Norwegian journalist Jonas Adnan Giæver. He is the one who gives hope, who allows the national team matches to be sold out, which was never the case before him here. But this elimination is beyond him: there has been a culture of failure in qualifying for more than twenty years in Norway. » And this found its most striking example last June 17 against Scotland.
Euro 2024 hopes ruined in five minutes against Scotland
Package in March during the first two matches of these qualifiers for Euro 2024 (groin strain), with a rout in Spain (3-0) and above all a problematic draw in Georgia (1-1) , the blond giant nevertheless made a winning comeback that day. He actually opened the scoring with a penalty that he had caused (1-0, 61st), before receiving a standing ovation from the Oslo public as he left the field, in the 84th minute of play. And then bim : 87th minute, equalizer from Dykes after a defensive ball from Ostigard, then 89th minute, winning goal from McLean (1-2). Enough to almost condemn the Norwegian people to yet another summer of regretting the Tore André Flo-Ole Gunnar Solskjær generation in front of the TV, even with five matches still to go.
“The coach Stale Solbakken admitted after the return match which became without stakes in Scotland on Sunday (3-3) that his big regrets were those five terrible minutes which ruined the qualifier, indicates Jonas Adnan Giæver. It is unforgivable not to qualify for this Euro and the Norwegian supporters were convinced that evening that the tradition of losing this selection had struck again. » But in fact, as this tragicomic turn of his replacement in the 84th minute of play against Scotland might suggest, is there really only Erling Haaland in this team?
“There are no demands, only hope”
No, Martin Odegaard (24 years old) has been immensely creative (and captain) with Arsenal since last season. Add to the list the solid scorer of Villarreal Alexander Sorloth (27 years old), the central defender of Naples Leo Ostigard (23 years old), the midfielder of Burnley Sander Berge (25 years old) or the very promising winger of Club Bruges Antonio Nusa ( 18 years), and you obtain a very correct bone structure. So what’s the problem? Jonas Adnan Giæver, who launched the football app fcQuiz, insists on the mental as well as organizational flaws of a country which has only three participations in the World Cup (1938, 1994 and 1998) and one in the Euro (in 2000 therefore).
We have a very good team in the non-challenging matches, but as soon as the qualifying matches arrive, we wonder every time how we are going to screw everything up. The worst thing is that we would be a serious outsider at the start of this Euro if we had qualified. As much as ten years ago, the players of the selection most often played in German D2, now it is no longer a question of talent. But we remained stuck in the 1990s: the Norwegian football culture did not develop, unlike our individual players in their clubs. The key is there: why does this selection not have as many demands with an Odegaard-Haaland duo as France cannot have with Griezmann and Mbappé? In Norway, there are no demands, only hope. Despite the elimination, Stale Solbakken [en poste depuis 2020] will not be called into question by the federation, like so many others before him. »
Few selections can present an attacking trio of the level of Odegaard-Nusa-Haaland, but they will still be watching Austria-Albania on television during Euro 2024 in Germany. – Jewel SAMAD / AFP
“Luxembourg and Liechtenstein will participate before us”
So much so that the Wikipedia entry for the Norwegian selection is clear: its main achievements are being one of only two teams in the world (with Senegal) undefeated against Brazil (in four matches from 1988 to 2006), and to have been a bronze medalist at the Berlin Olympics in 1936 (yay). It’s up to the Haaland generation to dust all that off. During the new formula of the 2026 World Cup expanded to 48 selections?
“It’s absolutely insane that so many small nations have qualified for major tournaments all this time, and Norway hasn’t,” insists Jonas Adnan Giæver. Realize: for our last competition, Euro 2000, Norway faced Yugoslavia, which still existed. The Norwegian national team has been the laughing stock of Europe for so many years. Even in Norway, we make jokes about our selection: we announce that Luxembourg and Liechtenstein will participate in a World Cup or a Euro before us. » If with such a valve, Erling Haaland’s pride is not offended…
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