November 18
2023
has
7:19 p.m.

Solbakken reveals his dissatisfaction with quality: – Was not “happy”

Ahead of Sunday’s European Championship qualifying match between Scotland and Norway, the Scots had already qualified for the championship, while Norway put in a disappointing performance.

Scotland coach Steve Clarke believes they had a big advantage compared to the way the game played out in the Norwegian group.

– The configuration of the calendar, with three home matches at the start, allowed us to bring home the maximum number of points from these matches. When we won 2-1 in Oslo we had qualification in our hands and fortunately we didn’t let it slip away, Clarke told NRK.

Scotland have played three home games in their opening four matches, winning all three against Cyprus, Spain and Georgia.

In the top four’s only away game, against Norway, they turned things around towards the end and won 2-1.

Ståle Solbakken reveals to NRK that he was far from satisfied with the setup Norway received from UEFA.

– Before, it was as if the countries agreed, and if they did not agree, it was a machine that decided. Now we were only presented with the fact that it happened like this and that we started against Spain and Georgia, Solbakken explains.

He points out that Norway played two good away games early on and won’t use that as an excuse.

But he does not hide the importance of getting off to a good start in a qualification with only eight matches.

– In addition, our third match (Scotland at home) changed the mental aspect of the group. If we had won it we could have started because we had eliminated two of the toughest away games. But it is clear that we were not “satisfied” with this configuration. But there was no place to protest, Solbakken said.

He thinks Spain probably has the best setup of all.

– You say you have nowhere to protest. Is there no one you can tell UEFA that you want, for example, every other match home and away?

– No, it no longer exists. Are (Hokstad, director coordinator) called me shortly after and I was where you are now. After all, we also flew over Ukraine (to Georgia), so this flight was also twice as long. I was onbut there was nothing to do.