RSS
ATOM
advertisement
Played
September 7, 2010 7:30 PM BST
Ullevaal Stadion — Oslo
Referee: L. Duhamel
Attendance: 24535
September 7, 2010 7:30 PM BST
Ullevaal Stadion — Oslo
Referee: L. Duhamel
Attendance: 24535
21′
Erik Huseklepp
Euro 2012 Qualifying Preview: Norway - Portugal
The Selecao will be desperate to bounce back in Group H...
|
Sign up with 188BET for a FREE bet up to £25 – Great Prices, Every Game |
|
Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £100 in free bets! |
|
Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25 |
|
Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200 |
By Subhankar Mondal
Flying High And Wild
Norway commenced their Euro 2012 adventure with a 2-1 comeback win against Iceland away from home on Friday in their opening game of the qualifying campaign. It wasn't a very convincing victory for Egil Olsen's side but it was an important win nevertheless.
Norway welcome a dysfunctional Portugal at Oslo on Tuesday and will make all possible effort to gain maximum points. Former Manchester United and Norway striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes that they can emerge victorious in this fixture.
"It's going to be a massive test for our boys," Solskjaer told Uefa.com. "Three or four of them play abroad but most play in Norway and they can make the step up in tempo, in quality of passing. You might get just one or two chances to score.
"We've got a hard group, that's for sure. Portugal are one of the greatest teams in the world. We are quite realistic about our chances. I think maybe Portugal will run away to win [the group], but we've got a good chance of being number two. We started really well this season with a win against France in a friendly a couple of weeks ago. We've got to be positive."
Bouncing Back
Portugal have had a disappointing World Cup in South Africa and their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign started on a sour note as well, as the Euro 2004 finalists were held to a 4-4 draw by Cyprus at home. It was a thrilling match but was also marred by some horrendous defensive performance from the Portuguese.
After the match, Portugal's temporary coach Agostinho Oliveira tried to explain, "I admit there was a lack of competence in a defence that is usually competent.
"It's not easy explaining this. This defence is solid. We had two men in front of the centre backs and this result is hard for me to swallow."
Centre-back Ricardo Carvalho has now called for his side to tighten up at the back and said, "Our focus was good going into the game. But we started badly, and even though we got into a winning position we didn't manage to go on and get the win.
"We could have scored a fifth goal [when leading 4-3] but didn't and in the end we ended up with the draw. We have to be more compact, especially at the back. We played well going forward but we're normally more secure in defence."
TEAM NEWS
Norway
Coach Olsen is likely to start with the same players who started against Iceland on Friday.
Probable Lineup (4-4-2): Knudsen, Hangeland, Waehler, Hogli, Riise; Pedersen, Hauger, B. Riise, Grindhelm; Huseklepp, Abdellaoui
Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo was already absent from the squad and now Fabio Coentrao has been ruled out because of injury.
Probable Lineup (4-5-1): Eduardo, Miguel, Carvalho, Alves, Silvio; Quaresma, Danny, Meireles, Fernandes, Nani; Almeida
Norway commenced their Euro 2012 adventure with a 2-1 comeback win against Iceland away from home on Friday in their opening game of the qualifying campaign. It wasn't a very convincing victory for Egil Olsen's side but it was an important win nevertheless.
Norway welcome a dysfunctional Portugal at Oslo on Tuesday and will make all possible effort to gain maximum points. Former Manchester United and Norway striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes that they can emerge victorious in this fixture.
"It's going to be a massive test for our boys," Solskjaer told Uefa.com. "Three or four of them play abroad but most play in Norway and they can make the step up in tempo, in quality of passing. You might get just one or two chances to score.
"We've got a hard group, that's for sure. Portugal are one of the greatest teams in the world. We are quite realistic about our chances. I think maybe Portugal will run away to win [the group], but we've got a good chance of being number two. We started really well this season with a win against France in a friendly a couple of weeks ago. We've got to be positive."
Bouncing Back
Portugal have had a disappointing World Cup in South Africa and their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign started on a sour note as well, as the Euro 2004 finalists were held to a 4-4 draw by Cyprus at home. It was a thrilling match but was also marred by some horrendous defensive performance from the Portuguese.
After the match, Portugal's temporary coach Agostinho Oliveira tried to explain, "I admit there was a lack of competence in a defence that is usually competent.
"It's not easy explaining this. This defence is solid. We had two men in front of the centre backs and this result is hard for me to swallow."
Centre-back Ricardo Carvalho has now called for his side to tighten up at the back and said, "Our focus was good going into the game. But we started badly, and even though we got into a winning position we didn't manage to go on and get the win.
"We could have scored a fifth goal [when leading 4-3] but didn't and in the end we ended up with the draw. We have to be more compact, especially at the back. We played well going forward but we're normally more secure in defence."
TEAM NEWS
Norway
Coach Olsen is likely to start with the same players who started against Iceland on Friday.
Probable Lineup (4-4-2): Knudsen, Hangeland, Waehler, Hogli, Riise; Pedersen, Hauger, B. Riise, Grindhelm; Huseklepp, Abdellaoui
Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo was already absent from the squad and now Fabio Coentrao has been ruled out because of injury.
Probable Lineup (4-5-1): Eduardo, Miguel, Carvalho, Alves, Silvio; Quaresma, Danny, Meireles, Fernandes, Nani; Almeida
Goal.com is proud to be a premier partner of Digg.com and as such is pleased to offer exclusive invitations to our users to become a participant in the Alpha launch of the new Digg.com. Click here for your access code for the alpha site - act now as invitations are limited!
| Sign up with 188BET for a FREE bet up to £25 – Great Prices, Every Game |
|
| Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £100 in free bets! |
|
| Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25 |
|
| Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200 |
|
Field Report
Reader's Predictions
Top 3 Predictions
-
Norway 1-2 Portugal
- 15.77 %
-
Norway 0-0 Portugal
- 15.46 %
-
Norway 0-2 Portugal
- 14.51 %
| Euro 2012 (EC) | Jun 4, 2011 | Portugal 1 - Norway 0 |
|
| Euro 2012 (EC) | Sep 7, 2010 | Norway 1 - Portugal 0 |
|
Norway
   |
||
| Nov 12, 2011 | Wales 4 - Norway 1 | FR |
| Oct 11, 2011 | Norway 3 - Cyprus 1 | EC |
| Sep 6, 2011 | Denmark 2 - Norway 0 | EC |
| Sep 2, 2011 | Norway 1 - Iceland 0 | EC |
| Aug 10, 2011 | Norway 3 - Czech Rep. 0 | FR |
Portugal
 |
||
| Nov 15, 2011 | Portugal 6 - Bosnia 2 | EC |
| Nov 11, 2011 | Bosnia 0 - Portugal 0 | EC |
| Oct 11, 2011 | Denmark 2 - Portugal 1 | EC |
| Oct 7, 2011 | Portugal 5 - Iceland 3 | EC |
| Sep 2, 2011 | Cyprus 0 - Portugal 4 | EC |
|
|
Sign up with 188BET for a FREE bet up to £25 – Great Prices, Every Game |
|
|
Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £100 in free bets! |
|
|
Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25 |
|
Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200 |
- Aaron Ramsey & Gareth Bale jeered by Wales supporters over Team GB saga following victory over Norway
- Wales' Gareth Bale eager to maintain momentum after 4-1 victory over Norway
- Player Ratings: Wales 4-1 Norway
- Wales 4-1 Norway: Bale & Bellamy strike in first half before late Vokes double rounds off fine win
- Portugal coach Paulo Bento: Our goal is to reach the Euro 2012 quarter-finals
- Spain continue to top Fifa World Rankings ahead of Netherlands, Germany, Uruguay & England
- Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo & Xavi - presenting the three candidates for the 2011 Fifa Ballon d'Or
- Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Xavi - Who should win the 2011 Fifa Ballon d'Or?
| - | Jon Knudsen | |
| 2 | Tom Hogli | Defender |
| 13 | Espen Ruud | Defender |
| - | Brede Hangeland | |
| - | Henning Hauger | |
| 11 | Morten-Gamst Pedersen | Midfielder |
| 18 | Erik Huseklepp | Midfielder |
| 3 | Kjetil Waehler | Defender |
| 10 | John Alieu Carew | Striker |
| - | Bjorn Helge Riise | |
| 16 | Christian Grindheim | Midfielder |
| 12 | Rune Almenning Jarstein | Goalkeeper |
| - | Jon Inge Hoiland | |
| 21 | Daniel Braaten | Striker |
| - | Steffen Iversen | |
| 4 | Vadim Demidov | Defender |
| 9 | Mohammed Abdellaoue | Striker |
| 17 | Jensen | Midfielder |
| - | Beto | Goalkeeper |
| - | Silvio | Defender |
| - | Manuel Fernandes | |
| 4 | Miguel Veloso | Midfielder |
| 18 | Quaresma | Midfielder |
| 9 | Hugo Almeida | Striker |
| 14 | Rolando | Defender |
| - | Ricardo Carvalho | Defender |
| - | Tiago | |
| 16 | Raúl Meireles | Midfielder |
| 17 | Nani | Striker |
| 1 | Eduardo | Goalkeeper |
| 2 | Bruno Alves | Defender |
| 8 | Joao Moutinho | Midfielder |
| - | Yannick Djaló | |
| - | Liedson | |
| - | Miguel Brito | |
| 10 | Danny | Striker |
| Mohammed Abdellaoue | |
| Position: | Striker |
| Squad Number: | 9 |
| Games | Goals | YC | RC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Mohamed Abdellaoui scored the winner for the Norwegians on Friday night and Portugal must be aware of his abilities to get behind their defence.
| Ricardo Carvalho | |
| Position: | Defender |
| Squad Number: | 0 |
| Games | Goals | YC | RC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ricardo Carvalho will be very crucial for Portugal against Norway. They conceded four goals last week and indeed for them to regain confidence in themselves, Carvalho will have to be the leader at the back.
Thank you for your comment!
Please enter your name
Please enter your location
Please share your comment!
33 Comments
Advertisement
Match News
Advertisement
