Why Is Norway's 'Golden Generation' So Bad?

Norway is the black sheep of the Scandinavian football family whereas Sweden have competed in 12 World Cups reaching four semi-finals in one final and Denmark have been regulars at the euros and the World Cup since the 1980s and have even won the Euros Norway have only ever qualified for four major tournaments where they won a grand total of just three games In fairness to Norway its climate particularly in the north tends to be less hospitable for playing football in denmarks and its population is half the size of Sweden Norway is home to fewer than 5 A2 million people and football faces ofir competition from other popular pastimes such as skiing alcoholism and performing in heavy metal bands in 2018 World Cup qualifying Norway lost 6 nil against Germany and 1 nil against aeran other memorable low lights included defeats against monegro Estonia and bellarus and at their very lowest de just 6 years ago Norway ranked 87th in the FIFA world rankings below the likes of Congo cape verie and the Pharaoh Islands a Danish archipelago of just 50,000 people they say that the darkest hour comes right before the dawn though and so it's SE for Norway in 2019 erling Harland made his International debut at the age of 19 linking up with a 20-year-old Martin erard who made his own International debut for Norway a aged only 15 last season Harland and erard were arguably the two best players of the two best clubs in the best league in all of world football harand scored 52 goals in 53 games to inspire Manchester City to a historic treble which was almost enough to win him the Balon door meanwhile erard topped Arsenal's Z scoring charts and won the club's player of the Season award as the Gunners enjoyed their best Premier League campaign in almost 20 years complimented by the likes of Christopher a Leo Ard Frederick Urus and even more recently Antonio NSA and Oscar Bob some have described Norway's current crop of players as a golden generation capable of going further at major tournaments than any Norway team that came before them in reality what has actually happened so far at least is that Norway have just failed to even qualify for their 12th successive major tournament the last time that Norway competed in a major tournament namely Euro 2000 earling harand still hadn't been born Norway's most recent failure confirmed over the current International break came after they finished third behind Spain and Scotland in their qualifying group with just three wins from eight matches and they were denied even of a route into the playoffs after finishing below Serbia in their 2022 23 UEFA Nations League group following an expanded format the Euros now consist of 24 teams out of uefa's 55 member associations teams who have already qualified for Euro 2024 include the likes of Slovakia Slovenia Romania and Albania with three more teams from the playoffs still to join them and still Norway with two world class players and a supposed golden generation are nowhere to be found it all begs the question what on Earth is going on or more precisely why is Norway's current team held in such high regard on paper quite so bad in real life well that's what today's video is all about so sit back relax and join me on a journey to Norway a land of spectacular FS breathtaking mountains and intelligence allocation of North Sea oil Revenue Britain would never as we take a look at Norway's SOC called Golden generation why it isn't very good and what could be done to fix it it's it's all well and good having two worldclass players but football is a team sport consisting of nine other players in a starting 11 and a further 12 in an international Squad that is probably the most common justification for Norway's lack of success in short Harland and erard might be great but everyone else isn't very good so let's scrutinize that argument they can be no doubt that Harland and igard are the two stars of this Norway team as they would be in the vast majority of national teams but Norway have several players who would start for a handful of teams who have qualified for Euro 2024 and other recent tournaments Fredick Urus formerly a fyord and now at Benfica has been superb since his 2022 move to Portugal and is among the most versatile players in any of Europe's major leagues capable of playing quite literally anywhere on the pitch ESS has rapidly established himself as a firm fan favorite in Lisbon thanks to his leadership work rate and selflessness he is also quite good at football smart good on the ball and excellence in the pass which you know is always a useful bonus then you've got fullback or Wing back Julian Ryon who joined baruo Dortmund from unon Berlin almost a year ago former trabzon sports star Alexander soff a 6 fo 5 in man Mountain who is among the leading scorers in La Liga so far this season with v roale Napoli Center back Leo Ard Bodo glimp star man Patrick bag brentford's Christopher Aya as rers olis suakin who is currently on loan at Olympiacos and Sela vos's Jorgen strand Larson who like sof has also made a flying start this season in La Liga that's a core of nine players horribly pronounced but nine players nonetheless all competing and currently flourishing are the highest level in Europe and they are raided by the the enormously talented young Joo of Club Bru's Antonio nusa and Manchester City's Oscar Bob perhaps soon to be joined by benfica's Andrea shelder up and aexis cette manzac Norway therefore are not or at least they certainly shouldn't be a Twan team there is no doubt in my mind at least that Norway have a more talented Squad than several teams that have enjoyed greater success in recent years including a number of those heading to Euro 2024 even if we were to accept that the Norway team barring Harland and erard was no more than mediocre though which I don't think is true the impact of star power is perennially understated in football sure football is a team sport in which the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts but when some of those parts are truly great it can make one hell of a difference into Miami makes for an interesting case study in this regard into Miami were rubbish in Major League Soccer this season they finished 14th out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference and 27th out of 29 teams in the league as a whole but following the arrival of Lionel Messi arguably still the single most talented football on the planet Miami were a team transformed they won the League's cup up against the best teams from MLS and league remx as Messi scored in every single one of Miami's seven games and scored twice in three of them in the semifinals Miami beat Philadelphia Union 4-1 having lost 4-1 against them in Major League Soccer just 2 months earlier before Messi arrived into Miami have lost just one game in which Messi has started since his arrival yet in the eight games that he has missed their injury since joining the club Miami returned to their old ways with a record of just one win three draws and four defeats including a 4-1 defeat against Chicago Fire which believe me takes some doing that's a very high-profile and recent example but the best examples of the power of the individual in football actually come in the international game and are therefore even more relevant to Norway Wales had never qualified for the euros and hadn't qualified for the World Cup in 64 years before Gareth Bale the sole world class player in a modest Wales Squad dragged them Kicking and Screaming to Euro 2016 and Euro 2020 followed by the 2022 World Cup Wales didn't just qualify for the Euros though in 2016 they made it all the way through to the semifinals famously beating Belgium's Go Generation 3-1 in the quarters Bal scored seven goals in Euro 2016 qualifying whilst no one else scored more than twice for Wales at the tournament proper only antoan Griezmann scored more goals than him zlatar Ibrahimovic likewise spent more than a decade at Sweden's talisman becoming the country's all-time leading goal scorer Ibrahimovic was Sweden's top scorer as they reached the quarterfinals of Euro 204 and their top scorer in pretty much every one of their qualifying campaigns for the next decade in Euro 2016 qualifying Ibrahimovic scored 11 goals Sweden's next highest goal scorer was aan zenin with three in the playoffs Ibrahimovic scored another three goals three of Sweden's four in fact in a 4-3 aggregate win against Scandinavian Rivals Denmark almost single-handedly securing qualification for his team Robert levandowski scored almost all of Poland's goals in Euro 2016 2018 World Cup Euro 2020 and 2022 wel at qualifying and he was the highest scorer of any nationality in two of those qualifying campaigns Gabon have qualified for the afcon more times since Pierre Emer aubameyang made his debut in 2009 than they had in their entire history up to that point Sagal qualified for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups as well as reaching the afcon final in 2019 and being crowned Continental champions for the very first time in 2021 thanks largely to the individual Brilliance of saddo mané and Liberia had never even qualified for the African Cup of Nations before George weer came along helping them qualify in 1996 and again in 2002 of course the of Wales Sweden and Poland had or still have some talented players aside from Bale Ibrahimovic and levandowski but so to to Norway aside from Harland and arguably none of those three had a better second player than erard one of the problems for Norway if you have watched them during this qualifying campaign has been the prevalence of players playing out of position or at least outside of their favored positions Alexander soloff and Jorgen strand Larson should be two of Norway's most important players but they are 6' 4 in and 6' 5 in Center forwards and as you probably know Norway already have quite a good 6'4 in Center forward who likes to play through the middle on his own whenever harand is fit naturally he starts meaning sof and Larson are either dropped or forced out wide they can do a job on the wing sometimes but it's not where either of them really want to be and it severely blunts the effect of of two of Norway's better players likewise 6' 6 in Christopher a has often found himself starting games at right back a position which he can play in but he is really a center back Muhammad Al yanui is frequently shifted from the right to the left flank and then back again and sander beag has been played on the wing despite being a central midfielder none of these in of themselves are particularly problematic they should all be able to do a job in those positions but when you combine them all along with the fact that particularly in defense a number of Norway's Defenders fullbacks and Wing backs are more used to playing in a back three or back fives than in back fours at Club level and it creates a sense of disjointedness and particularly defensive uncertainty some of those issues are the inevitable consequence of how unbalanced squads in International Football can be and the inevitable desire to play as many of your best players as possible but others have been firmly laid at the door of national team boss starles suakin viewed as a real coup by the Norwegian Football Federation when they first appointed him in December 20120 following the resignation of previous head coach lar lbeck sakan enjoyed tremendous success during 12 and a half years split between two separate stints managing FC Copenhagen in that time sbam won eight Danish super Lega titles and four Danish cups establishing Copenhagen as the dominant force in Danish football that only tells half the story though sandwiched in between San's very long and trophy Laden spells with Copenhagen were two distinctly shorter and less successful stints managing outside of Denmark the first came with Cologne who sakan managed to relegate despite the fact that the club had finished 10th the previous season and had Lucas parolski on their books who scored 18 goals in the Bundesliga That season following a car crash campaign involving several off build incidents sbam was swiftly sacked later claiming that neither Jesus Christ nor Jose Mourinho would have been able to keep cologne up in the same circumstances incidentally before joining cologne in the summer of 2011 sban had agreed to take the Norway job in 6 months time but cologne bought out his contract with the national team for €400,000 it didn't take long for them to wish that they'd kept a receipt next up was wolver Hampton Wanderers who who appointed suakin after a three-year stint in the Premier League had come to an end wolves retained the core of their Premier League Squad in the championship and most of their highest earners as well as backing suan in the transfer market and they were installed as the third favorites to win promotion from the championship That season following a fairly positive start though when sban was sacked in January wolves had won just one of their last 16 games and sat 18th in the championship table just six points above the relegation Zone what's more for all of San's success at Copenhagen it is worth noting that he routinely had by far the largest budget in the division and in his last season Copenhagen finished second some nine points behind meland since his departure Copenhagen have regained the Danish super Lega title in each of the last two seasons under Jess thorup and Jacob nrup and this season they are not only top of the Super Liga once again but are currently second in their Champions League group ahead of Manchester United and Galatasaray following a 4-3 win against the former in their last fixure it is certainly arguable therefore that San failed at both cologne and at wolves and even at Copenhagen where he was very successful they have improved since he left entrusted with Norway's most gifted group of players at least since the 199s when Norway reached two World Cups and the Euros if not of all time it is hard to see how exactly sakin 3 years into the job has left any kind of imprints or made any meaningful improvements to this team tactically it's stale he is slow to react to things during games and his substitutions can seem perplexing at times solaker has also developed something of a reputation for absolving himself of responsibility and of washing his hands with Norway's failures when you look at teams that have qualified for Euro 2024 who are no stronger I would suggest the Norway on paper the importance of having the right person in charge is extremely evident take Scotland for example from Norway's own qualifying group Scotland hadn't qualified for a major tournament in over 20 years when Steve Clark was appointed manager in May 2019 from day one though it has been very clear what Clark has been trying to do Scotland was shipping far too many goals when Clark arrived and indeed in his own first few games but since then they have been very tight Compact and effective on the break on Clark's watch Scotland have kept clean sheets against the likes of England Denmark and Spain qualifying for both Euro 2020 bya the playoffs and Euro 2024 even more emphatically after finishing as Runners up in their group Clark got the Scotland job off the back of taking a Kil manik team that was fighting relegation all the way up to third in the Scottish Premiership qualifying for Europe for the first time in nearly 20 years in some ways it was the perfect preparation for the Scotland job kilman were Plucky underdogs whose success was built on an outstanding defensive unit and who became extremely effective in getting points against Scotland's biggest teams karik beat Celtic two on a home and they drew both League games against Rangers Clark therefore was well-versed in the pragmatic demands of coaching a team who would at times be favorites but would often have to ride out heavy storms saken by contrast had only ever failed when that was required of him at cologne and with wolves and with Copenhagen he had the biggest budget and the best players and was expected to win every game which clearly isn't the nature of the Norway job Marco Rossy with hungary's national team is another good example one of the best national team bosses in Europe at least as far as I'm concerned Rossy has taken a hungry team that is light on Superstars and has made them incredibly difficult to beat in Euro 2024 qualifying Hungary didn't lose a single game meanwhile Russia's masterminded impressive victories against England and Germany and a oneall draw against France in most of the world when a manager doesn't get results they are immediately put under immense pressure but not just with the Norwegian Football Federation but all of the Scandinavian FAS it seems at times as though there is a more relaxed attitude around failure Sweden of only had three managers in the last 23 years and none of them were sacked they all resigned of their own bition lar lbeck resigned after failing to qualify for the 2010 World Cup rather than being dismissed Eric hamron chose to step down following a group stage exit at Euro 2016 and Jana Anderson just resigned following Sweden's failure to qualify for Euro 2024 Denmark likewise have had just four managers since 1996 a period of 27 years only one of whom Martin Olson was actually sacked and even that was only after he had already announced his intention to step down after 15 years in the job Norway who have had much less success in recent years than either Sweden or Denmark appeared to be just as lacking in urgency and ambition in May 2023 fresh off the back of three games without a win including a one all draw with Georgia which significantly dented Norway's Euro 2024 qualifying hopes the Norwegian Football Federation rewarded star suen with a 2-year contract extension with a further one-year optional extension it is hard to imagine too many other countries in Europe with Norway's player pool and recent results doing likewise in those same circumstances the only person applying any significant pressure on saken would appear to be the man himself who has promised to step down if Norway don't qualify for the 2020 six World Cup Norway's struggles most assuredly cannot be laid at the door of just one man though one of the biggest complaints among Norwegians is that for all of their gifted and intricate attacking players they lack any horrible and nasty Defenders or defensive midfielders and are particularly late at Center back and there are some interesting theories as to why that might be the case historically Norwegians were often considered to be hardened professionals toughened up by Norway brutal climate and culturally similar to the British at least in terms of their love of a crunching tackle and industrious running almost as much as a Maisy dribble or delicate finish over the last couple of decades though Norway's Frozen and waterlog grass pictures have been almost wholly replaced by more practical and easier to maintain artificial surfaces that has allowed Norwegian teams to focus on the technical aspects of their game all year round and that is exact exactly what they've done Norway's artificial turf revolution has coincided with a wider push within coaching not limited to Norway but certainly very prevalent there for a hyperfocus on touch dribbling skill and other more technical aspects of the game rather than tackles interceptions or aerial Jewels the end result is that those players who are less technically gifted but might have made for very robust and intelligent center backs are weeded out of the acad system very early on and don't go on to have careers within the game there is no going back in terms of the artificial pitches Norway's climate dictates that but on the coaching front there are significant calls now for Rondo's passing and dribbling drills to at least be accompanied by more varied coaching methods that helps a hone players who are perhaps Less in the mold of a Martin erard and more to someone like Henning bag once again though Norwegian football just seems to s sort of trundle along slow to react or Implement genuine change Norway doesn't even have a National Training Center for its football teams which seems odd for a country with such vast resources where football is despite competition from winter sports still by far the most popular sport the existence of Harland and erard two stars in the Premier League a league which Norwegians consume and adore as if it were their own combined with the relative success of te like molda and Bodo glimps in Europe ought to provide the Launchpad for a serious mentality shift in Norwegian football but in action threatens to throw that opportunity away given the stars in Norway's midst most International football fans would be surprised to discover just how pessimistic the atmosphere and general mood surrounding the national team in Norway is Norwegians have a reputation for being reserved and not the most flamboyantly enthusiastic at times regard regard less but even before this latest setback in terms of failing to qualify for Euro 2024 the mood was distinctly somber this isn't the first time that Norway have had a talented group of players touted to go further than ever before and there is a sense in which whilst the International Community might look at Harland erard and Co and get excited Norwegians feel as though they have seen this all before it doesn't seem to matter about Personnel when it comes to the Norway team as soon soon as they pull on that shirt they become choke Merchants when it matters most Norway have an almost unique ability to not turn up there is almost an acceptance now that this is just part and parcel of Norwegian DNA and there is no point in getting your hopes up just for them to be knocked down that kind of thing can be very difficult to shake but if Norway are to turn their fortunes around their players will have to find it within them to do it it is worth noting that though Norway's problems are primarily of their own making they have had some Misfortune along the way their Euro 2024 qualifying group for instance was a tough one pitted against Spain and Scotland had Norway been drawn in group I for example where the top two teams are Romania and Switzerland there is naturally a much greater chance that they would have qualified whilst far from the greatest victims of the conflict they were also somewhat screwed over by Russia's early 2022 fullscale invasion of Ukraine because Russia was suspended by UEFA they decided that all games against the bottom Place teams in UEFA Nations league league b groups would be entirely void two of Norway's three wins came against last place Sweden so the cruel rule change denied them of a playoff spot which would at least have given them a second chance to qualify for the Euros despite finishing below Spain and Scotland Norway have also had some really poor Fortune when it comes to injuries most notably of all earling harland's injury in March ahead of key games for Norway against Spain and Georgia from which they ended up taking just one point came as an enormous blow Harland has scored a remarkable 27 goals from just 29 caps for Norway mirroring his goal scoring record at Club level but the Spain and Georgia games aren't the only fixtures that he has missed since making his International debut Harland has missed 12 games or roughly a third of Norway's matches through injury which is an awful lot of football for the nation's main man strange as it may seem to some Harland also has a slightly mixed public perception in Norway on the one hand he is already probably the country's greatest player of all time age 23 but on the other hand harland's travel by private jet personal bodyguards and rolls-royces put him at odds with some Norwegian ideals former Liverpool fullback John anara had a similar disaffection his flash lifestyle viewed as being being somehow a Norwegian there's a word for it yanan or the lore of yant in English coined by the Danish Norwegian author Axel Sandos it's now used cloaky to describe a social attitude of disapproval towards expressions of individuality and personal success basically this is a country that doesn't do Superstars and when it does it still doesn't like to make too much of a fuss about them Oslo isn't plastered with post or murals of Harland like Cairo is with Muhammad Salah or in Sol with son hung men harland's ties to the UAE through his employment at Manchester City environmental considerations over his private jet usage and various sponsorship deals have also been treated with a degree of Suspicion there have even been questions asked about the extent to which Harland has been injured when he has missed games as was often the case with Ryan gigs and Wales this weekend for example despite missing both of Norway's games over the international break few would be surprised to see harand start for Man City in their Premier League fixture against Liverpool back in June Harland was even booed by Norway fans for refusing to sign autographs following defeat against Scotland there is some good news for Norway for a start their squad is still young Harland Ard and strand Larson are 23 erard is 24 Oscar Bob and Antonio nser are 20 and 18 and there are several promising Norwegian youngsters still yet to make their senior International debuts I can remember over a decade ago when Belgium failed to qualify for Euro 2012 despite having the likes of Hazard de bruyne vitell company and cir in their ranks there were those who questioned whether they ever would but that was just the start of the journey for those players who soon became tournament regulars and finished third at the 2018 World Cup Norway's Squad isn't as talented as Belgium's was then and reaching the semi-finals of a world cup seems like a long shot but they should at the very least qualify for the next couple of Euros so how can they make that happen well first and foremost they need to shake off 20 years of failure and if that means freshening up the squad and almost certainly I would suggest a change of head coach then so be it oigan a Sola who has been out of work for 2 years since get getting sacked by Manchester United is reported to be one candidate and I think that Norway could certainly do a lot worse harshly criticized at times at Old Trafford sire showed himself to be a talented motivator who can create a good team spirit which is so crucial in International Football whilst also knowing how to set a team up to get results in big games against stronger opponents Norway needs a National Training Center to enact shifts in coaching practices that everyone in the Norwegian game seems to acknowledge need to happen and a Football Federation that can provide the ambition to match the talent of Norway's players Norway's women's team are much more competitive than the men's having qualified for every single Women's World Cup all but won women's euros and ranked 13th in the world compared to the men's team who currently ranked 42nd but even with the women's team there have been serious questions asked of the Football Federation aah heger B Norway's star player and a balandor winner in 2018 refused to represent the national team from 2017 to 20122 due to the way that the Federation treated women's football lastly it must be noted that several of Norway's star players at Big clubs like brucia Dortmund Napoli and Sevilla weren't getting regular game time at Club level at the start of this qualification cycle but they are now and that alone is likely to be a huge boost for the national team moving forward it will take more than that for Norway to start fulfilling their potential though and taking advantage of the enormous opportunities that now present themselves to them it would be a crying shame to see that wasted and there is quite frankly no way that this team shouldn't at the very least be qualifying for the Euros that is it for today's video which I inexplicably chose to end with the worst Norway joke out there I can only apologize but I hope that you enjoyed the rest of it hit the like button if that was the case let me know your thoughts Down Below in the comments and of course you goes without was saying make sure that you're subscribed and have notifications turned on for both this Channel and also my second Channel Alfie pots armor both of which should be on or about to appear on your screens now along with a couple of videos that you might enjoy watching after this one you can also find me on Twitter Instagram or threads by the username @ h cc7 on all three should you wish to do so and all of those links plus a whole lot more should be down in the video description hell cheers

Channel: HITC Sevens

Views: 323,001

Keywords: HITC Sevens, Football, Soccer, Norway, National Team, Golden Generation, Why, Euro 2024, Bad, Haaland, Odegaard, International, Premier League, Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard, Manchester City, Arsenal, Eliteserien, World Cup, Documentary

Id: x06rtyS-GT0

Length: 30min 59sec (1859 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 22 2023