King out with injury for Watford – against top crisis for the national team – VG

VG updates the case.

The extent of King’s injuries is unknown at the time of writing, but it could be bad news for the Norwegian national team before the very important international matches against Turkey and Montenegro. The Turkey match is already next Friday, October 8, with the match against Montenegro three days later.

From before, it is already clear that Alexander Sørloth is out with an injury for the national team gathering that starts next week, while Erling Braut Haaland is highly uncertain due to a muscle injury.

King first went down for counting five minutes before the break and went to the back of the thigh, after he apparently put his leg wrong in the ground after a duel. After receiving treatment on the field for just over a minute, he got back on his feet and he also got back into the match, but in overtime in the first half he had to go out due to the blow he suffered.

VG’s national team commentator, Knut Espen Svegaarden, is aware that there is a great weakening of the team, and believes that a crisis is approaching if King is not ready for play.

– It is obvious that this is a clear weakening. It also affects the psyche of the opponent, who has prepared for a meeting with Europe’s perhaps best striker, the striker who became the top scorer in the Turkish league two years ago and a Premier League striker. Now there is a tip they have hardly heard of, but it can of course hit both ways, says Svegaarden.

The commentator has worked with the national team since 1985 and says he can not remember a similar situation, where strikers one, two and three can all be out with injuries, in addition to first and second choices (Rune Jarstein and André Hansen) in the goalkeeper position must be over the collection.

– If you include Ajer (in the squad, but he played a stretch last week) and Berge (not in the squad due to injury), then a victory in Istanbul will now be a pretty big achievement, he thinks.

Svegaarden believes that the possible injury absences have meant that the match has gone from being 50-50, to 70-30 in favor of Turkey, and adds that he believes a King injury will lead to Thomas Lehne Olsen and Ohi Omoijuanfo being called into the squad of Ståle Solbakken.

– The peak crisis will be even bigger if King should not recover for the match against Turkey. That Haaland will not join is the worst thing that could happen for Solbakken, and if King is also out in addition to Sørloth, it looks thin in the lead, says TV 2’s football expert Jesper Mathisen to TV 2.

Borussia Dortmund coach Marco Rose told a press conference on Friday that Haaland will not travel to the national team gathering, but national team doctor Ola Sand kept the door ajar for Haaland on Friday and said that they had little hope.

– We are waiting until tomorrow afternoon before we know anything more, Sand writes in an SMS to VG on Saturday about Haaland’s situation.

In the Norwegian squad, both King and Haaland have been taken out, with Veton Berisha and Kristian Thorstvedt as the other two attackers who currently have a place. Thomas Lehne Olsen (Lillestrøm), Erik Botheim (Bodø / Glimt) and Ohi Omoijuanfo (Molde) have all been relevant for the squad.

Norway is in second place in group G after six matches, equal in the number of points as group leader the Netherlands. Only the group winner qualifies directly for the World Cup, while a second place in the group provides an opportunity to advance through a cup game.

Turkey and Montenegro are both close behind in the group, two and five points behind Norway and the Netherlands, respectively. Thus, there are two very important matches waiting for the national team. The match against Turkey will be played in Istanbul on October 8, while the match against Montenegro will be played at home at Ullevaal Stadium on October 11.

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