노르웨이의 세련된 현대 모델이 94년 학급이 실패한 곳에서 성공할 수 있을까?

스톨레 솔바켄의 빠르고 유연한 팀은 지난 월드컵에 진출했던 단순한 유닛과는 거리가 멀지만, 새로운 도전이 기다리고 있다. 노르웨이의 매우 기대받는 세대가 역사에서 경고를 받아야 한다면, 32년을 되돌아보고 또 한 번의 뜨겁고 긴장감 넘치는 미국 여름에서 얻은 교훈을 배우면 된다. 그들은 잉글랜드의 비용을 제치고 예선을 통과하며 1938년 이후 첫 월드컵에 진출했다;

출처: The Guardian Football

Ståle Solbakken’s fast, flexible side are far from the no-frills unit that last made the World Cup but new challenges await

If Norway’s highly fancied generation need a warning from history they need only look back 32 years and study the lessons from another searing, suspenseful American summer. They had raced through qualifying at England’s expense to reach their first World Cup since 1938; their top players were starting to make it in the Premier League and through the euphoria shone a confidence that a place in the knockout stage, at least, was there to be seized.

“When we got there we didn’t manage to even get close to the quality of play we had produced in qualification,” remembers Lars Bohinen, one of the silkier elements in a side that, under Egil Olsen, became renowned for an uncompromising and no-frills approach. “That’s the biggest disappointment when I talk now to my old teammates. We never got near to performing at the level we needed.”