Norway – Slovenia

The Balkan national team will take at least one point in Oslo

The Norwegian national football team disappoints its fans year after year. The presence of a world-class star in the team in the person of Holand raises expectations from the Scandinavian team. However, the Norwegians have stopped even getting to the big competitions, like world and continental championships. Surprisingly, since 2000, the Norwegian team has not participated in a single big tournament. We are talking about six World Championships and six European Championships. The Slovenian national team, unlike their opponents, have only just shaken off the dust from the shoes that trampled German football pitches at the 2024 World Cup. The Balkan team did not win a single game there, but they can be proud of the fact that not a single game, including England and Portugal, was lost in regulation time. Bookmakers have identified the home team as favorites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 1.60 on their victory. As mentioned above, each of the last twelve qualifying stages for the World and European Championships ended in failure for the Norwegians. The team failed to qualify for Qatar, losing only slightly to Turkey and the Netherlands, and they failed to qualify for Germany, having already fallen behind Spain and Scotland. Even more offensive for Scandinavian fans is the fact that Georgia, who finished fourth in the qualifying group for the UEFA EURO 2024, which the Norwegians beat by three points, not only made it to the UEFA EURO by additional ratings, but also made it to the play-offs. At the end of the last Nations League, the team nearly made it to the A-League, but finished second in the group behind Serbia. Interestingly, Slovenia also faced Norway in the last Nations League. That time the meeting in Oslo ended 0-0. In this match, Holand and Edegaard had full playing time on the pitch, while Slovenia played with ten men for the last half an hour. Norway lost the return leg, scoring first through Holand. Slovenia played a disciplined defence of their own goal. Playing second best at the recent EURO brought the team four draws and a penalty shootout loss to Portugal. The visitors will comfortably play their own game and take at least one point away from Norway.