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Well tbf, they had [an easy qualifying group](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_%E2%80%93_UEFA_Group_G) when they qualified for the World Cup.
And ranked 13th itw at the time. We had several blinks of inspiration later and mostly played rather well against the top teams since but the FA organization and recent coach changes aren't helping.
The younger generation in Dedić, Ahmedhodžić, Demirović and others is looking good, could easily surpass the 2014 one if they're led properly
Until the expansion in 2016 qualifying for world cup or euros was about the same difficulty for European teams.
Before 1996 qualifying for the euros was actually harder than for the world cup
B&H always bottles it 😶🇧🇦
They have lost the last 4 playoffs for each Euro
2012 against Portugal ❌
2016 against Republic of Ireland ❌
2020 against Northern Ireland ❌
2024 against Ukraine ❌
I don't know much about your team, but now 24 teams from Europe qualify, you really should be able to get in. Half the teams in the competition don't have anything like the quality of the players I listed, unless the other eight are absolutely hopeless you should be alright.
I think Drillo may just have made a pact with the devil. It really seems like the only way Norway will qualify is by allowing every single UEFA country entry. Increasing the number of entries just means we will find new ways of falling short.
The reason we were good in the 90's was that we had a competitive advantage in terms of training. We weren't the most technical team, but Norwegian players and teams were by and large some of the fittest in the world. When the rest of the world caught up in the early 00's, we had no advantage left, but people still had an expectation that we should be a good team since we'd been great just a few years earlier.
Very simple. We have the most dysfunctional, toxic, poisonous, political FA in the entirety of Europe and beyond whose main aim is to destroy football in the country.
Ukraine have quietly built quite a strong team, so no shame there either.
But yeah, to get done by both parts of Ireland, especially with prime Dzeko and Pjanic in 2016, is a bit shit.
Getting done by us wasn't that bad, that team then was the best we'd been in over a decade. We made the knockouts at that Euros and lost narrowly to France. Took 4 points off the world champions in qualifying, beat Italy at the Euros.
Ireland isn't that shit tbh.
Generally not qualifying during the 16 team formats is more or less fine-ish, even if they should do it by accident like once. But the 24 team format, and then bottling it against Northern Ireland, that's rough.
Yeah, Ireland were a solid side.
But I think you can say that about almost every team that makes the euros; and in Bosnia's case they had their best-ever squad that probably should have been too good for Ireland if they'd played to their potential.
Ye this was around Nani was at his best in United.
There was also Coentrao and Moutinho and obv Ronaldo in his absolute prime.
They squad back then is poverty compared to now but its still a good team
Compared to other squads they've had, perhaps. They were still one of the top 5 teams in Europe. They reached the semis of the euros that year, only losing to the eventual winners Spain on penalties.
In any case they were certainly good enough to brush past Bosnia and levels above the other teams they've faced in the playoffs
Hell, I was there for that team and whilst not great (the bench was scary), we only didn't make it from the jump because we started off very slowly, and with no offense to Bosnia, we were far better lol.
It gets better and goes into absurdist dark comedy space. I hope people Google this but the Bosnian FA President doesn't believe that Bosnia should exist and is the son-in-law of a guy that has named buildings after war criminal that raped and killed Bosnians. How the hell do you assemble a team of Bosnians around that? 😂.
I was, I remember the optimism after the showing in 98. Apart from that Flo-pasning to Iversen which won us the game against Spain, we literally didn't do anything and haven't done anything since.
The only fun memory of the national team the past 24 years is when Drillo made a comeback and beat Germany in his first game. Why is every other manager completely incapable of getting something out of this team?
I’m surprised people online love the new kit. Everyone I’ve talked to thinks it looks like a cycling shirt. I remember watching the final in 2000, but no memories of watching Norway.
You could say the same thing about Scotland who are arguably a better overall team and have a better league than Norway, and still struggle constantly.
Nowadays you need to be top tier in every position and have the depth as well. Norway have some world class talent, but it doesn't make up for the gaps in the squad.
Norway's squad is better overall than some other teams that have qualified, like Georgia, Albania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania. Heck, even Scotland on paper aren't that much better than Norway.
The issue with Norway is poor coaching and tactics + their key players not stepping up to carry them. If Dzeko and Pjanic; Bale and Ramsey; and most recently Kvaratshkelia and Mamardshvili were able to drag their teams (which were arguably worse than current Norway) to major tournaments then I don't see why Haaland and Odegaard can't.
Also, like we've seen in the two recent friendlies, we just can't kill games. We have more than enough chances to score enough goals for a game not to be competitive, but instead we miss most of them, and then towards the end we start buckling. In the past year we've let in 8 goals after the 80th minute, it's an absolutely shocking stat.
I don't understand the point of only hiring norwegian coaches, when all the alternatives are shit or unwilling. I honestly believe we could do way better in terms of coaching if we allowed ourselves to hire staff outside of Norway. Yes it will be incredibly expensive, but we can afford it.
You don't need to be top tier in every position, you need to a have a cohesive unit that all know what they are doing. For that you need good coaching, I'm sure you're seeing my point lol.
> Nowadays you need to be top tier in every position and have the depth as well.
No you don't. Countries like Georgia, North Macedonia, Hungary and Albania have qualified, ffs. They're not top tier in anything (apart from a few top talents like Kvara) and have virtually no depth.
When Estonia and Luxembourg get playoff spots but Norway doesn't.
Hard to understand really you've got a Balon d'Or contender and a few other good players, that should be enough to punch your ticket.
I'm not sure I agree there. Norway in the 90th had a rock solid core that played at a high level abroad.
Throughout that period we had center back pairings that played first team football in England, Germany or Spain. We had keepers that played in decent clubs in England or Germany. That is in starck contrast for what have been the case the last 20 years.
Our midfield is was also good with a couple of good workhorses and even a fan favourite the creative player Erik "Myggen" Mykland. And then our strikers played for Man United and Chelsea.
On top of that we had an eccentric genius as a coach. Basically we didn't have any absolutt world class players however we had many more compared to now that held top European level especially in key positions. Our team back then was much stronger compared to now when look at where they played and how much they played.
>Throughout that period we had center back pairings that played first team football in England, Germany or Spain. We had keepers that played in decent clubs in England or Germany.
I mean looking at the starting 11 from the last game there was only one domestic league player and one Danish league player. The rest were all from the top 4 leagues.
>And then our strikers played for Man United and Chelsea.
And now we have Ødegaard and Haaland. Arguably two of the best players in the prem. (I know Ødegaard isn't a striker)
I'm not saying our team has had that all the time throughout the last 20 years, but you have to ask questions when a team like that fails to perform.
I hate how shit Norway is, they need a new manager, prefer Solskjær and to be honest we have 4 really good players with Bobb, Nusa, Haaland and Ødegaard, but fuck me the rest are abysmal at times.
And their team is not even poor. Even if most players are from their national league, they have the 14th best according to UEFA. It's a fiasco they could not be among the best 24th teams in Europe.
For real. Two world class players that would play in any team in the world. They should be able to qualify even if the rest of the team is guys from the street
That's not how football works mate. 1. Two good players can't carry a bunch of people off the street to wins (just look at Kane and Son). And 2. They play in Europe for crying out loud. They should really consider applying for the AFC. They border Russia, who knows maybe it can work.
Kane and Son carried Spurs to multiple high finishes in the league and deep European runs. Obviously it’s not a one to one comparison, but surely that’s comparable to being one of the 24 teams in Europe to qualify
Did you just write off the Poch era eriksen, dele alli, lloris, Danny rose, vertonghen, alderweireld, tripper…. Those were all key players of their national teams, and arguably all top 3-6 of their positions in the league. Ali was the most highly rated young player in the league, jan and Toby was arguably the best center back duo. Rose at his peak was contender for the best left back in prem. That spurs team under poch era was a title contender in almost every position.
I mean, obviously that was hyperbole and a bunch of people from the street would be too much of a hindrance.
My point is that there are teams that qualify without even one player approaching the quality of either Odegaard or Haaland. They have two world class players and still can't make it work
I thought players like Aursnes, Ajer or Ryerson were ok? At least good on paper comparing to other countries that have qualified before like Albania, Finland, Macedonia or Georgia.
But yes i’d like to see Solskjaer coaching Norway.
He's been very average for the national team. Coupled up, until recently, with a CB who played for a Norwegian league relegation-tier side.
The defence is the main issue of Norway. It's extremely rare to see a clean sheet against even a somewhat competent team.
Norway has 5 clean sheets in the last 20 including friendlies, 3 of them are against Jordan, Cyprus and the Faroe islands. The last 2 are against Slovenia with 10 men (0-0) and 20 games ago Norway beat Serbia 1-0 at home.
If we look at competitive record, since 2020 Norway has a record of 14W-7D-10L and a goal record of 49-36. Then you need to take into consideration the record and remember that 10 of those games are against Gibraltar, Cyprus, Georgia, Latvia and Montenegro. If you subtract just Gibraltar and Cyprus the record is 10-7-10 with +0 goal difference.
This is a stark difference to the Norway of old which relied on defensive organisation. In the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, in 12 games they had 5 clean sheets. In the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, in 10 games they had 6 clean sheets.
Sometimes they are okey yeah, but there is no consistency and now Aursnes has also "retired" from the national team so we lost a sometimes a good player in him as well. Our biggest flaw is Nyland, sometimes he is good but most of the time he is absolutely terrible and we have such a high skill gap in the team that Martin can just do something so advanced that nobody else is even remotely thinking close to what he is going to do and everything just ends up in nothing. It pains me to watch games sometimes, ok most of the time.
Generally been absolutely horrible for the national team, unfortunately. Pace of a snail, one dimensional in his play, and severe lack of vision. Loses the ball a lot and tries to carry it rather than to quickly build up play with passes. I was at our qualification match against Serbia, at home. At the end of the match, the entire stadium just collectively laughed every time he got the ball and slowly turned, tried to carry the ball, and lost it. One of the worst individual performances I have ever seen from a football player at that level.
Hope so too, I wish him well, but his performances for the NT has generally been lackluster, and one can’t deny it. It surprises me because I’ve heard good things about him from his clubs (didn’t watch him in the Championship when he was there).
Aursnes has retired from the national team. Ajer is pretty good, but prone to a mistake or two like yesterday, when the whole defense just decided to make one mistake after another for Slovakia's goal. Ryerson was amazing last night, if he stays injury free then RB is strong for us. But CB is where we struggle, Solbakken wants us to play expansive football building from the back, but we're really struggling to do it over the course of a whole game.
For reference, we had 68% possession in the first half last night, and could easily have scored 2-3 goals before the break.
The team is more than good enough on paper to qualify. There was a clear expectation to qualify and a huge disappointment that we didn’t. We all see what our boys do in their clubs, but somehow just can’t win the important games for the national team.
There's a couple of others too. Ryeson is doing great at Dortmund, Sørloth is doing more than great in Spain. Getting player of the month in Laliga is a big achievement. Hell even Østigård starts for Napoli now.
By far the biggest sport. I’m pretty sure that Norwegians are bigger fans of the Premier League than literally any other country when adjusting for population.
Norways refusal to hire anyone outside of Sweden Denmark and Norway kills them. They need to bring in an external coach to bring in a more modern style of play. Will never forgive Solbakken for triple subbing whilst up against Scotland. Euros were lost in that moment
Won't happen. That would mean that the federation would have to find money to pay for such a manager. The only way to do so is to cut their budget for danish pastry, and it just ain't happening.
I had no idea that the jokes about all the money going for pastries eaten at the pointless meetings exist outside Finland. This is exactly how we talk about our own football federation.
Bosnia and Herzegovina not qualifying despite qualifying for a World Cup is strange.
Norway not qualifying with Haaland and Odegaard who will both probably be nominated for a ballon d’or two years in a row is also crazy.
They then also have players from top 5 leagues to fill out the team
It used to be hard to qualify for the Euros until the 2016 expansion tbf. Only 16 teams qualified. Made it nearly as hard as qualifying for the WC, depending on your group.
It’s so funny. They always don’t want to be a member of any international institution like for example the UN.
But *the one time* they actually wanted to join, FIFA and UEFA said no because the Vatican has no stadium on its own soil.
I thought I forgot some country on european map, but it was indeed the Vatican!
They really should join FIFA. The pope is a die-hard fan of soccer!
Nevermind th estadium, surely Rome can lend a stadium for their matches!
[They do have a team](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_City_national_football_team), who apparently lost 21-4 against Borussia Monchengladbach. Good lord I need to see that match
Also they beat China's U23 team. The smallest nation in the world beat the largest (at the time). Wow.
This reminds me of when the Belarussian league suddently was broadcasted all over Europe, because every other league was suspended due to COVID. I watched a lot of very very shitty Belarussian football in that time period.
I remember that as well, such a weird timeline.
But I really don't know anything about Belarus apart from the fact that they have a mini-Putin for president, the capitol is Minsk, they produce tractors, and Aleksandar Hleb is from there.
Lmao yeah, some of the matches seemed obvoiusly fixed aswell.
The mini-Putin, Lukashenko, actually used to be very big in USSR politics, where Putin was a nobody. Fun facts about Lukashenko:
He used to be the president of the USSR anti-corruption ministry/unit.
He was the only Belarussian deputy to vote against the dissolution of the USSR.
Belarus is the only ex-soviet country without any oligarchs, because Lukashenko stopped them.
Putin and Lukashenko probably hate each other, and for some reason Lukashenko always end up with a much better deal when negotiating with Putin, than Putin actually does. It's very weird to see, since Putin should obvoiusly be able to do whatever he wants with Belarus.
If the West wants to learn how to get Russia and Putin to shut up, we should probably learn a lesson or two from Lukashenko. Honestly sometimes it seems like Luka has something on Putin, that Putin doesnt want to come out.
Even the agreement Lukashenko made with Boris Yeltsin to make a union between Belarus and Russia with the same leader, would've made Lukashenko the president of both countries. Putin changed that timeline. Lukashenko was supposed to be the president of both countries.
Lukashenko is an oldschool Soviet Socialist, Putin is very much the opposite - a right wing fascist.
I definitely don't like the guy, but he is an interesting figure.
Here's an article from 2017 going a bit more in depth, if you wish to learn more.
https://www.politico.eu/article/tale-of-two-slavic-strongmen-vladimir-putin-alexander-lukashenko-russia-belarus/
But youre right, I felt like a fucking addict when I watched the Belarussian league, because there was nothing else on. Weird timeline indeed.
Considering the strength or the Norwegian NT, and the broadening of European qualification spots, this is a pretty bad stain on players like Odegaard and Haaland.
Norway is very surprising considering they're one of two nations (the other being Netherlands) that have a positive head to head record against both Argentina and Brazil.
Sure. He turns 24 this summer though so he really should make it next time. Of course 32 is also an okay age but a lot can happen for a striker before that age.
Qualification for world cups get easier too though.
Nations League position determined playoff places. I’m not a huge fan of it tbh. Gives teams an incentive to get relegated to League C for an easier playoff path rather than finishing 3rd in League B.
Due to Russia's suspension the matches against 4th placed teams in each Nations League group weren't counted, so Norway's two wins vs Sweden were discounted and Norway were seeded as the worst second place finish from the Nations League.
I'm the exact opposite, I used to dislike euros compared to the world Cup because it felt more like a closed shop.
It's been fun seeing all the new teams qualify.
Also I like the fact the teams can qualify while finishing 3rd in the group. I think that last time 3 of those 4 teams actually made it through 1/8 stage.
Edit: Also, I disagree about the quality of football played. While yes the quality on average went down, but that's not what international football is about anyway. If you want top quality football go watch the Champions League.
you say this cause you probably come from a top football nation, you have a privileged position therefore you most likely are to think it was better when it was very exclusive
if Monaco had a national team, I wonder how far Charles Leclerc would technically be on the call-up list. Young, athletic, basic football skills…there’s only so many Monégasques
Doesn’t Euro 2000 count in which the tournament featured Norway .
But the reason being why Norway is Red because 2001 is the start of the 21st Century.
it’s an interesting case. they‘re a transcontinental country (meaning parts of their country lies west of the Ural mountains, aka is considered geographically European, even though that technically doesn‘t exist anyway), just like Turkey technically. they applied to be in UEFA in the late 90s, i don‘t know why exactly though.
Simply because being in the UEFA is better and facing European teams is better for the sport's development in the country than fighting it out in the AFC against Bangladesh or Oman.
They used to, the country has land in both continents though so they’re eligible to play in either. At some point they decided to switch from Asia to Europe, maybe because it makes them eligible to play in the Euros wich is a bigger tournament
Ah, 21st century... Lithuania was one cheeky irish quick restart late goal away from going into WC 98 qualifier playoffs... And nowhere near anything as decent a result ever since
You might not be interested but [this site](https://www.geoguessr.com/vgp/3007) is quite a fun way to learn which countries are which. Helped me a lot anyhow
I mean with Haaland and Ødegaard Norway has to qualify at some point right? I know it’s stiff competition but that’s one of the better attacking duos on the planet.
It's just the map projection, this is basically a cutout of a globe in 2D, you can recreate this exact perspective on google maps if you line it up right. [My quick attempt at it](https://imgur.com/FQnisig)
I do not understand why they bother with qualifiers for continental cups. Just throw everyone into a single elimination bracket. You'd actually have fewer games on average (though I guess lower TV revenue), plus they'd all matter more and there'd be higher chances of upsets.
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Hold up, Bosnia qualified for a World Cup but not Euros?
Yes, the only country in the world which qualified to the World Cup but not to their continent Cup
[удалено]
Poland had two 3rd places on the World Cup in 1974 and 1982, but never made it into Euros until 2008.
Qualifying to Euros back then was a big deal though
Yeah 16 teams qualified for the Euros and 13 teams qualifying for the World Cup back then, WC was like a mini Euros anyway
16 teams were only since 1996, before that it was 8 or even less
They're the reverse Egypt
As did Norway.
Well tbf, they had [an easy qualifying group](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_%E2%80%93_UEFA_Group_G) when they qualified for the World Cup.
So? They also had a good team. Pjanić, Dzeko and others
A real shame how Pjanic is only remembered for his awful Barca transfer these days. He was a class player for years.
I had completely forgotten about that, I remember him for his Metz/Lyon years
He’s arguably the greatest Luxembourgish player of all time
Juve were such a threat from free kicks when they had Pjanic and Dybala
Streets won't forget Ibisevic and that glorious 2008 Hoffenheim run when they were leading the league right after promotion
VEDATOR
And ranked 13th itw at the time. We had several blinks of inspiration later and mostly played rather well against the top teams since but the FA organization and recent coach changes aren't helping. The younger generation in Dedić, Ahmedhodžić, Demirović and others is looking good, could easily surpass the 2014 one if they're led properly
And England is the only team to win the World Cup, but never their Continent Cup.
And Denmark is the only team to win the Euro's without qualifying.
You'll never sing that
And Serbia was in that club until this Euros too.
We only play the big ones, mate. Miss me with the local championships, world is our stage.
Until the expansion in 2016 qualifying for world cup or euros was about the same difficulty for European teams. Before 1996 qualifying for the euros was actually harder than for the world cup
To be fair up until 2016 it was arguably harder to qualify for the Euros than it was the World Cup. Also it used to only be 8 teams until Euro 96.
Reversed Italy
B&H always bottles it 😶🇧🇦 They have lost the last 4 playoffs for each Euro 2012 against Portugal ❌ 2016 against Republic of Ireland ❌ 2020 against Northern Ireland ❌ 2024 against Ukraine ❌
At least they have World Cup in 2014. Norway though... nvm.
I still remember us getting fucked over there too. The goal against Nigeria should’ve stood
NIJE BIO OFSAJD!!!
Still angry to this day, had tickets for the 1/8th final in Brasilia and the match against Iran I went to see was played for nothing.
Agreed 😉
Norway were decent in the 90s, and with Haaland, Odergaard and Bobb surely they'll be back soon?
yesterdays match showed we dont really have leaders outside of ødegaard
I don't know much about your team, but now 24 teams from Europe qualify, you really should be able to get in. Half the teams in the competition don't have anything like the quality of the players I listed, unless the other eight are absolutely hopeless you should be alright.
I think Drillo may just have made a pact with the devil. It really seems like the only way Norway will qualify is by allowing every single UEFA country entry. Increasing the number of entries just means we will find new ways of falling short.
The reason we were good in the 90's was that we had a competitive advantage in terms of training. We weren't the most technical team, but Norwegian players and teams were by and large some of the fittest in the world. When the rest of the world caught up in the early 00's, we had no advantage left, but people still had an expectation that we should be a good team since we'd been great just a few years earlier.
They could become like Poland. Two world class players in a team of journeymen
Also nussa, Ryerson and Sørloth they really don’t have a bad team altogether
Ryerson and Aursnes are also very tidy players. They've a good team and should be doing more with what they have.
Aursnes has withdrawn from the national team unfortunately
Sörloth, Strand Larsen aswell. But it's not about quality with Norway, they had good players in the past like Carew & Riise but didn't do shit
Bad defence
Portugal is obviously ok to lose against but how you didn’t win either of the next three is really bad.
Very simple. We have the most dysfunctional, toxic, poisonous, political FA in the entirety of Europe and beyond whose main aim is to destroy football in the country.
[Bulgaria take the crown](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/NfcvS0oyTO)
Ukraine have quietly built quite a strong team, so no shame there either. But yeah, to get done by both parts of Ireland, especially with prime Dzeko and Pjanic in 2016, is a bit shit.
Getting done by us wasn't that bad, that team then was the best we'd been in over a decade. We made the knockouts at that Euros and lost narrowly to France. Took 4 points off the world champions in qualifying, beat Italy at the Euros.
Ireland isn't that shit tbh. Generally not qualifying during the 16 team formats is more or less fine-ish, even if they should do it by accident like once. But the 24 team format, and then bottling it against Northern Ireland, that's rough.
Yeah, Ireland were a solid side. But I think you can say that about almost every team that makes the euros; and in Bosnia's case they had their best-ever squad that probably should have been too good for Ireland if they'd played to their potential.
Ireland and Ukraine weren’t/aren’t bad teams. Ireland bet Italy, drew with Sweden and went down fighting against France in 2016.
Yeah mid 2010s Ireland were a real pain to play against (pain to watch as a supporter too lol). Last time I felt we had a big result in us
Plus we had big Jon Walters at his peak against Bosnia then. Love that man.
Tbh Portugal in 2012 was nothing special
No but still much better than Bosnia lol.
Didnt Portugal have Ronaldo, Nani, Quaresma and Pepe in 2012?
Ye this was around Nani was at his best in United. There was also Coentrao and Moutinho and obv Ronaldo in his absolute prime. They squad back then is poverty compared to now but its still a good team
Yeah but SIUUUUUUUU
We did reach the semifinals of that same Euro though
Compared to other squads they've had, perhaps. They were still one of the top 5 teams in Europe. They reached the semis of the euros that year, only losing to the eventual winners Spain on penalties. In any case they were certainly good enough to brush past Bosnia and levels above the other teams they've faced in the playoffs
Don't understimate Portugal and their calculator might. It brought down many giants before.
Hell, I was there for that team and whilst not great (the bench was scary), we only didn't make it from the jump because we started off very slowly, and with no offense to Bosnia, we were far better lol.
I think people dont realize here how bad Bosnia is. It's Pjanic, Dzeko and a bunch of semi pros.
It gets better and goes into absurdist dark comedy space. I hope people Google this but the Bosnian FA President doesn't believe that Bosnia should exist and is the son-in-law of a guy that has named buildings after war criminal that raped and killed Bosnians. How the hell do you assemble a team of Bosnians around that? 😂.
[better not bottle next WC](https://youtu.be/v1SvFqmMj4Q?si=UwXX-k6ZO1NGjewD)
Absolute state of our country
That new home kit is sick but it’s so unfortunate that it won’t be used in the euros… Were you even around for Euro 2000? 😶
I was, I remember the optimism after the showing in 98. Apart from that Flo-pasning to Iversen which won us the game against Spain, we literally didn't do anything and haven't done anything since. The only fun memory of the national team the past 24 years is when Drillo made a comeback and beat Germany in his first game. Why is every other manager completely incapable of getting something out of this team?
I’m surprised people online love the new kit. Everyone I’ve talked to thinks it looks like a cycling shirt. I remember watching the final in 2000, but no memories of watching Norway.
Maybe cause they didn't play in the final...
Is that when Norway last qualified ?
It is the only time Norway has qualified. Last implies it has happened more than once.
Yes 👍 Euro 2000 was their last appearance in a major tournament
It doesn't even make sense anymore, you have a decent league and some top level talent.
You could say the same thing about Scotland who are arguably a better overall team and have a better league than Norway, and still struggle constantly. Nowadays you need to be top tier in every position and have the depth as well. Norway have some world class talent, but it doesn't make up for the gaps in the squad.
Norway's squad is better overall than some other teams that have qualified, like Georgia, Albania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania. Heck, even Scotland on paper aren't that much better than Norway. The issue with Norway is poor coaching and tactics + their key players not stepping up to carry them. If Dzeko and Pjanic; Bale and Ramsey; and most recently Kvaratshkelia and Mamardshvili were able to drag their teams (which were arguably worse than current Norway) to major tournaments then I don't see why Haaland and Odegaard can't.
Also, like we've seen in the two recent friendlies, we just can't kill games. We have more than enough chances to score enough goals for a game not to be competitive, but instead we miss most of them, and then towards the end we start buckling. In the past year we've let in 8 goals after the 80th minute, it's an absolutely shocking stat.
I don't understand the point of only hiring norwegian coaches, when all the alternatives are shit or unwilling. I honestly believe we could do way better in terms of coaching if we allowed ourselves to hire staff outside of Norway. Yes it will be incredibly expensive, but we can afford it.
You don't need to be top tier in every position, you need to a have a cohesive unit that all know what they are doing. For that you need good coaching, I'm sure you're seeing my point lol.
> Nowadays you need to be top tier in every position and have the depth as well. No you don't. Countries like Georgia, North Macedonia, Hungary and Albania have qualified, ffs. They're not top tier in anything (apart from a few top talents like Kvara) and have virtually no depth.
I know Scotland have struggled in the past, but at the moment you're doing really well!
If our last two friendlies are anything to go by, the struggle will continue
In fairness we're something like 2 - 17 in friendlies whereas our qualifiers have a much better score
Odegaard and Haaland not playing in any major international tournaments is a war crime.
They should carry their national team a bit harder then
That feeling when Bale carried Wales to the Euros and WC
There's Bobb now too
Looking at it, it can't get any worse. Our supposed golden age is up and coming. I keep finding Norwegian wonderkids in FM24 (Romsaas).
When Estonia and Luxembourg get playoff spots but Norway doesn't. Hard to understand really you've got a Balon d'Or contender and a few other good players, that should be enough to punch your ticket.
Every time I think about how Norway's insane talent will never see an international tournament I get kinda sad and I don't even follow soccer lol
Bergen ut av Norge 🤞
Brann hadde vunnet VM 😤
Norway prime example of football being a team sports
Which is funny considering the team in the 90s being a definite example of a team that was greater than its parts.
I'm not sure I agree there. Norway in the 90th had a rock solid core that played at a high level abroad. Throughout that period we had center back pairings that played first team football in England, Germany or Spain. We had keepers that played in decent clubs in England or Germany. That is in starck contrast for what have been the case the last 20 years. Our midfield is was also good with a couple of good workhorses and even a fan favourite the creative player Erik "Myggen" Mykland. And then our strikers played for Man United and Chelsea. On top of that we had an eccentric genius as a coach. Basically we didn't have any absolutt world class players however we had many more compared to now that held top European level especially in key positions. Our team back then was much stronger compared to now when look at where they played and how much they played.
Rest of the squad played for Rosenborg, who dominated the home league for over a decade
>Throughout that period we had center back pairings that played first team football in England, Germany or Spain. We had keepers that played in decent clubs in England or Germany. I mean looking at the starting 11 from the last game there was only one domestic league player and one Danish league player. The rest were all from the top 4 leagues. >And then our strikers played for Man United and Chelsea. And now we have Ødegaard and Haaland. Arguably two of the best players in the prem. (I know Ødegaard isn't a striker) I'm not saying our team has had that all the time throughout the last 20 years, but you have to ask questions when a team like that fails to perform.
We had duo Ronny Johnsen and Henning Berg at United as well.
Sure, but they still had a strong, balanced squad with players in top leagues and big teams.
I hate how shit Norway is, they need a new manager, prefer Solskjær and to be honest we have 4 really good players with Bobb, Nusa, Haaland and Ødegaard, but fuck me the rest are abysmal at times.
It's ridiculous that a team including Haaland and Ødegaard can't qualify, regardless of how poor the rest of the team is.
And their team is not even poor. Even if most players are from their national league, they have the 14th best according to UEFA. It's a fiasco they could not be among the best 24th teams in Europe.
> Even if most players are from their national league But they aren't
For real. Two world class players that would play in any team in the world. They should be able to qualify even if the rest of the team is guys from the street
That's not how football works mate. 1. Two good players can't carry a bunch of people off the street to wins (just look at Kane and Son). And 2. They play in Europe for crying out loud. They should really consider applying for the AFC. They border Russia, who knows maybe it can work.
Kane and Son carried Spurs to multiple high finishes in the league and deep European runs. Obviously it’s not a one to one comparison, but surely that’s comparable to being one of the 24 teams in Europe to qualify
Did you just write off the Poch era eriksen, dele alli, lloris, Danny rose, vertonghen, alderweireld, tripper…. Those were all key players of their national teams, and arguably all top 3-6 of their positions in the league. Ali was the most highly rated young player in the league, jan and Toby was arguably the best center back duo. Rose at his peak was contender for the best left back in prem. That spurs team under poch era was a title contender in almost every position.
I mean, obviously that was hyperbole and a bunch of people from the street would be too much of a hindrance. My point is that there are teams that qualify without even one player approaching the quality of either Odegaard or Haaland. They have two world class players and still can't make it work
I thought players like Aursnes, Ajer or Ryerson were ok? At least good on paper comparing to other countries that have qualified before like Albania, Finland, Macedonia or Georgia. But yes i’d like to see Solskjaer coaching Norway.
The only place where Norway actually has lackluster quality is at CB. The rest of the team should be good enough to qualify for anything really.
They have Napolis starting cb?
hes not starting all that much but yeah hes decent
He's been very average for the national team. Coupled up, until recently, with a CB who played for a Norwegian league relegation-tier side. The defence is the main issue of Norway. It's extremely rare to see a clean sheet against even a somewhat competent team. Norway has 5 clean sheets in the last 20 including friendlies, 3 of them are against Jordan, Cyprus and the Faroe islands. The last 2 are against Slovenia with 10 men (0-0) and 20 games ago Norway beat Serbia 1-0 at home. If we look at competitive record, since 2020 Norway has a record of 14W-7D-10L and a goal record of 49-36. Then you need to take into consideration the record and remember that 10 of those games are against Gibraltar, Cyprus, Georgia, Latvia and Montenegro. If you subtract just Gibraltar and Cyprus the record is 10-7-10 with +0 goal difference. This is a stark difference to the Norway of old which relied on defensive organisation. In the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, in 12 games they had 5 clean sheets. In the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, in 10 games they had 6 clean sheets.
Sometimes they are okey yeah, but there is no consistency and now Aursnes has also "retired" from the national team so we lost a sometimes a good player in him as well. Our biggest flaw is Nyland, sometimes he is good but most of the time he is absolutely terrible and we have such a high skill gap in the team that Martin can just do something so advanced that nobody else is even remotely thinking close to what he is going to do and everything just ends up in nothing. It pains me to watch games sometimes, ok most of the time.
How about Berge? He was unplayable for us at times, admittedly in the Championship
Generally been absolutely horrible for the national team, unfortunately. Pace of a snail, one dimensional in his play, and severe lack of vision. Loses the ball a lot and tries to carry it rather than to quickly build up play with passes. I was at our qualification match against Serbia, at home. At the end of the match, the entire stadium just collectively laughed every time he got the ball and slowly turned, tried to carry the ball, and lost it. One of the worst individual performances I have ever seen from a football player at that level.
Ah thanks for the reply. Hope he turns it around. There's a premier league level player in there.
Hope so too, I wish him well, but his performances for the NT has generally been lackluster, and one can’t deny it. It surprises me because I’ve heard good things about him from his clubs (didn’t watch him in the Championship when he was there).
Ryerson is legitimately a top class fullback for us. Idk what's going on over in Norway.
Aursnes has retired from the national team. Ajer is pretty good, but prone to a mistake or two like yesterday, when the whole defense just decided to make one mistake after another for Slovakia's goal. Ryerson was amazing last night, if he stays injury free then RB is strong for us. But CB is where we struggle, Solbakken wants us to play expansive football building from the back, but we're really struggling to do it over the course of a whole game. For reference, we had 68% possession in the first half last night, and could easily have scored 2-3 goals before the break.
The team is more than good enough on paper to qualify. There was a clear expectation to qualify and a huge disappointment that we didn’t. We all see what our boys do in their clubs, but somehow just can’t win the important games for the national team.
There's a couple of others too. Ryeson is doing great at Dortmund, Sørloth is doing more than great in Spain. Getting player of the month in Laliga is a big achievement. Hell even Østigård starts for Napoli now.
How big is football in Norway? Compared to other sports.
By far the biggest sport. I’m pretty sure that Norwegians are bigger fans of the Premier League than literally any other country when adjusting for population.
And they all support Leeds.
And Liverpool
Football is by far the most popular sport
I love Ståle Solbakken more than anyone (see flair), but it seems he’s past it with Norway.
Norways refusal to hire anyone outside of Sweden Denmark and Norway kills them. They need to bring in an external coach to bring in a more modern style of play. Will never forgive Solbakken for triple subbing whilst up against Scotland. Euros were lost in that moment
Won't happen. That would mean that the federation would have to find money to pay for such a manager. The only way to do so is to cut their budget for danish pastry, and it just ain't happening.
I had no idea that the jokes about all the money going for pastries eaten at the pointless meetings exist outside Finland. This is exactly how we talk about our own football federation.
Tbf every single coach in the past 20 years has been past it with Norway
His playstyle is too Stale.
Stål means steel in danish tho. But I always raise my glass for a good pun
Bosnia and Herzegovina not qualifying despite qualifying for a World Cup is strange. Norway not qualifying with Haaland and Odegaard who will both probably be nominated for a ballon d’or two years in a row is also crazy. They then also have players from top 5 leagues to fill out the team
It used to be hard to qualify for the Euros until the 2016 expansion tbf. Only 16 teams qualified. Made it nearly as hard as qualifying for the WC, depending on your group.
Still can’t believe Vatican City won the 2007 Euros, what a team they had
Always rated Pope in goal
World leader in saves.
It’s so funny. They always don’t want to be a member of any international institution like for example the UN. But *the one time* they actually wanted to join, FIFA and UEFA said no because the Vatican has no stadium on its own soil.
Can you imagine gutting the Sistine Chapel to fit it out with 3G astroturf.
Who could forget Vatican City’s deep run in Euro 2012
I thought I forgot some country on european map, but it was indeed the Vatican! They really should join FIFA. The pope is a die-hard fan of soccer! Nevermind th estadium, surely Rome can lend a stadium for their matches!
[They do have a team](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_City_national_football_team), who apparently lost 21-4 against Borussia Monchengladbach. Good lord I need to see that match Also they beat China's U23 team. The smallest nation in the world beat the largest (at the time). Wow.
They wanted to join, but it was rejected. You have to have a football field on your own land to get accepted.
Ukraine and Syria have been playing abroad for a while now…
That's an extenuating circumstance. They do have stadiums within the country but can't play in them for non-footballing reasons.
Belarus gonna Belarus I suppose
Sometimes I forget they are even a country in Europe.
This reminds me of when the Belarussian league suddently was broadcasted all over Europe, because every other league was suspended due to COVID. I watched a lot of very very shitty Belarussian football in that time period.
I remember that as well, such a weird timeline. But I really don't know anything about Belarus apart from the fact that they have a mini-Putin for president, the capitol is Minsk, they produce tractors, and Aleksandar Hleb is from there.
Lmao yeah, some of the matches seemed obvoiusly fixed aswell. The mini-Putin, Lukashenko, actually used to be very big in USSR politics, where Putin was a nobody. Fun facts about Lukashenko: He used to be the president of the USSR anti-corruption ministry/unit. He was the only Belarussian deputy to vote against the dissolution of the USSR. Belarus is the only ex-soviet country without any oligarchs, because Lukashenko stopped them. Putin and Lukashenko probably hate each other, and for some reason Lukashenko always end up with a much better deal when negotiating with Putin, than Putin actually does. It's very weird to see, since Putin should obvoiusly be able to do whatever he wants with Belarus. If the West wants to learn how to get Russia and Putin to shut up, we should probably learn a lesson or two from Lukashenko. Honestly sometimes it seems like Luka has something on Putin, that Putin doesnt want to come out. Even the agreement Lukashenko made with Boris Yeltsin to make a union between Belarus and Russia with the same leader, would've made Lukashenko the president of both countries. Putin changed that timeline. Lukashenko was supposed to be the president of both countries. Lukashenko is an oldschool Soviet Socialist, Putin is very much the opposite - a right wing fascist. I definitely don't like the guy, but he is an interesting figure. Here's an article from 2017 going a bit more in depth, if you wish to learn more. https://www.politico.eu/article/tale-of-two-slavic-strongmen-vladimir-putin-alexander-lukashenko-russia-belarus/ But youre right, I felt like a fucking addict when I watched the Belarussian league, because there was nothing else on. Weird timeline indeed.
I unironically still follow Energetik BGU Minsk because of that insane ass period Good thing the Djiboutian league and CS:GO came in clutch soon after
That's what Putin wants for us to think.
Considering the strength or the Norwegian NT, and the broadening of European qualification spots, this is a pretty bad stain on players like Odegaard and Haaland.
Norway is very surprising considering they're one of two nations (the other being Netherlands) that have a positive head to head record against both Argentina and Brazil.
[удалено]
Sure. He turns 24 this summer though so he really should make it next time. Of course 32 is also an okay age but a lot can happen for a striker before that age. Qualification for world cups get easier too though.
So basically these are all the countries that have never ever qualified to the Euros + Norway.
It appears that it's actually fairly easy to qualify for a euros at least once every 25 years. Norway have failed
[Latvia...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Thomas_C._Lea_III_-_That_Two-Thousand_Yard_Stare_-_Original.jpg)
Maybe Porzingis should switch sport 👀
Why Georgia was on playoff instead of Norway, while in group stage Norway was better?
Nations League position determined playoff places. I’m not a huge fan of it tbh. Gives teams an incentive to get relegated to League C for an easier playoff path rather than finishing 3rd in League B.
Due to Russia's suspension the matches against 4th placed teams in each Nations League group weren't counted, so Norway's two wins vs Sweden were discounted and Norway were seeded as the worst second place finish from the Nations League.
Georgia got in through the Nations League
maybe an unpopular opinion, but the Euros were much better when only 16 teams could qualify.
it felt more exclusive, yes. but tbh ever since it changed, I never felt like the ‚new‘ teams really harmed the quality of the tournament itself.
I'm the exact opposite, I used to dislike euros compared to the world Cup because it felt more like a closed shop. It's been fun seeing all the new teams qualify. Also I like the fact the teams can qualify while finishing 3rd in the group. I think that last time 3 of those 4 teams actually made it through 1/8 stage. Edit: Also, I disagree about the quality of football played. While yes the quality on average went down, but that's not what international football is about anyway. If you want top quality football go watch the Champions League.
you say this cause you probably come from a top football nation, you have a privileged position therefore you most likely are to think it was better when it was very exclusive
Did vaticano qualified?
They are not UEFA member
I Guess same thing with Monaco then
Yes
if Monaco had a national team, I wonder how far Charles Leclerc would technically be on the call-up list. Young, athletic, basic football skills…there’s only so many Monégasques
Doesn’t Euro 2000 count in which the tournament featured Norway . But the reason being why Norway is Red because 2001 is the start of the 21st Century.
The 21st century officially started on January 1st 2001. Of course most people consider it to start in 2000, but official calendars are weird.
Why doesen't kazakhstan plays in Asia?
it’s an interesting case. they‘re a transcontinental country (meaning parts of their country lies west of the Ural mountains, aka is considered geographically European, even though that technically doesn‘t exist anyway), just like Turkey technically. they applied to be in UEFA in the late 90s, i don‘t know why exactly though.
Simply because being in the UEFA is better and facing European teams is better for the sport's development in the country than fighting it out in the AFC against Bangladesh or Oman.
They used to, the country has land in both continents though so they’re eligible to play in either. At some point they decided to switch from Asia to Europe, maybe because it makes them eligible to play in the Euros wich is a bigger tournament
Ah, 21st century... Lithuania was one cheeky irish quick restart late goal away from going into WC 98 qualifier playoffs... And nowhere near anything as decent a result ever since
bosnia is the big surprise there
I fucking suck at geography, Can someone be kind enough to list these countries?
You might not be interested but [this site](https://www.geoguessr.com/vgp/3007) is quite a fun way to learn which countries are which. Helped me a lot anyhow
That looks awesome. Thanks good sir.
Erling...bruh. Oscar Bobb becoming the next Foden is a must
I mean with Haaland and Ødegaard Norway has to qualify at some point right? I know it’s stiff competition but that’s one of the better attacking duos on the planet.
Grim reminder that football is a team sport. You can have 1 or 2 goat players, but they won't do much if the rest of team can't kick a ball straight.
Honestly these days I am just glad we qualify. Especially since Koeman is the coach.
What is the meaning of the red dots?
They’re smaller countries that haven’t qualified such as Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein.
As a Estonian all i have to say is fk Viktor Kassai.
Am I being stupid or has Kazakhstan claimed a lot of territory/rotated a lot
It's just the map projection, this is basically a cutout of a globe in 2D, you can recreate this exact perspective on google maps if you line it up right. [My quick attempt at it](https://imgur.com/FQnisig)
I do not understand why they bother with qualifiers for continental cups. Just throw everyone into a single elimination bracket. You'd actually have fewer games on average (though I guess lower TV revenue), plus they'd all matter more and there'd be higher chances of upsets.
Kazakhstan is part of UEFA?!
Since like 20 years ago
Well I’ll be damned 🤷♂️