Kristian Thorstvedt, who surprisingly got the chance as a striker against Turkey, equalized just before the break. It is 1-1 after the first 45 minutes in Turkey.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY (Nettavisen): Follow the match in our live center below!
Ståle Solbakken had to make many changes to the team from the last game as a result of countless injuries. And it attracted attention when the starting eleven came in the 19.30 draw.
Solbakken chose to bench Viking player Veton Berisha. There was a long talk that he would play striker for Norway in the battle of fate since Erling Braut Haaland, Alexander Sørloth and Joshua King are all unavailable due to injuries. Solbakken chose instead to surprise and start with Kristian Thorstvedt as striker.
Thorstvedt usually plays offensive midfield for the club team Genk. He has seven international caps and two goals for Norway.
Football expert Joacim Jonsson was not gracious when he was served the team in the VGTV studio.
– Ståle lays his head on the guillotine. This international match is vital, a match Norway cannot lose. I’m surprised by the choice. Thorstvedt is the hard work, but he does not have the same frequency as what Berisha has in the press game, Jonsson said when the team came out.
– We have tried it before (with a midfielder as striker), when we did it in Hungary, said Kjetil Rekdal and referred to the away match against Hungary in the European Championship playoffs in 2015, when Markus Henriksen started as striker.
– Berisha may be struggling with something, we never know everything. I had expected Thorstvedt to play, so the surprise for me is that Thorstvedt starts as a striker, Rekdal continued.
This is how Norway started (4-3-3), according to UEFAs official pages: Ørjan Håskjold Nyland – Marcus Holmgren Pedersen, Stefan Strandberg, Andreas Hanche-Olsen, Birger Meling – Martin Ødegaard, Patrick Berg, Morten Thorsby – Jens Petter Hauge, Kristian Thorstvedt and Mohamed Elyounoussi.
Også Tyrkia command en 4-3-3: Ugurcan Cakir – Zeki Celik, Merih Demiral, Serdar Aziz, Caner Erkin – Berat Özdemir, Ozan Tufan, Kerem Aktürkoglu – Cengiz Ünder, Burak Yilmaz, Hakan Çalhanoglu.
To have real hope of a group victory, Norway must win at Sükrü Sakarcoglu Stadium. The Netherlands meet Latvia on the same day and Gibraltar on Monday.
In November, the Netherlands will travel to Montenegro three days before the last match against Norway.
The group winner arrives at the World Cup finals in Qatar. The team that finishes second gets a second chance in replay against other two teams or group winners from the previous national league. Then two matches must be won to get a World Cup place.
–
