A party atmosphere is expected in Glasgow this weekend when Scotland celebrate qualifying for a second consecutive European Championship finals, having ended a 24-year drought in 2020. The previously unthinkable achievement of topping Group A is within reach with a victory at home to Norway, though they’d need Georgia to produce a shock result in Spain’s final fixture.
There may be some concern from head coach Steve Clarke as they could only draw in Georgia (D 2-2) during the week which in turn extended their winless streak to four consecutive matches following losses to heavyweights England (3-1), Spain (2-0) and France (4-1) prior. Anything but a win over rank #42 Norway to complete a perfect home record in this qualification cycle (W3) would be alarming then, especially as Scotland also enter the tough looking UEFA Nations League A (UNL) next year so need to regain form quickly.
Norway have been improving though, and are still holding out hope of reaching the March 2024 Euro qualification playoffs. They cannot influence their destiny in any way here, and must pray that a particular set of nations qualify directly to open up a position for them in a play-off path as reward for finishing 24th in the previous UNL. They only have themselves to blame for missing the top two in Group A, after failing to win each of their first three qualifiers (D1, L2).
Norway’s impressive form across their last six games (W5, L1) should motivate them to avenge a 2-1 home loss to Scotland in June, even if four of those five wins came in Oslo. So far in this cycle, their only away qualifying victory came against lowly Cyprus (D1, L1) and if they want to win again here, they could be forced to do it without star striker Erling Haaland, who went down with an ankle injury in the final moments of his 45-minute midweek friendly cameo against the Faroe Islands (W 2-0).
Players to watch: Lawrence Shankland could be in line for more game time after equalising in his five minute stint against Georgia, his fifth goal scoring appearance in six matches for Hearts or Scotland. On a similar note, Jørgen Strand Larsen has now scored in back-to-back games for Celta Vigo and Norway.
Hot stat: Norway haven’t trailed at half-time in any of their last eight games.
