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Norway national football team
Euro Champ Qualifying | Group Stage
Jun 20, 2023 at 7.45pm UK
Ullevaal Stadion
Cyprus national football team

Norway
3 - 1
Cyprus

Solbakken (12'), Haaland (56' pen., 60')
Aursnes (18'), Finne (89')
FT(HT: 1-0)
Kastanos (90+3')
Pittas (37')

Preview: Norway vs. Cyprus - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Tuesday's Euro Champ Qualifying clash between Norway and Cyprus, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

The two winless nations in Euro 2024 qualifying Group A seek to break their respective ducks on Tuesday as Norway welcome Cyprus to the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo.

Stale Solbakken's men failed to hang onto a one-goal lead in a dramatic 2-1 loss to Scotland at the weekend, while the visitors came up short against Georgia by the same scoreline.


Match preview

Norway coach Stale Solbakken before the match on March 25, 2023© Reuters

After 60 scoreless minutes between Norway and Scotland in which the Lions were in the ascendancy, Manchester City record-breaker Erling Braut Haaland went down under pressure from Ryan Porteous inside the area to controversially win his side a penalty, which he converted despite the best efforts of Angus Gunn.

However, Norway's recent defensive lapses came back to bite them again, as Lyndon Dykes poked home the equalising goal for Scotland with 87 minutes gone before Kenny McLean kept his composure to curl home into the bottom corner only moments later, sending the Tartan Army into delirium while leaving the Norwegian faithful to rue another missed opportunity.

With a 3-0 loss to Spain and 1-1 draw with Georgia to their name from March's opening fixtures, Norway's wait for a first Euros final appearance since 2000 will go on barring a belated turnaround in fortunes, as the world's 44th-ranked nation occupy fourth place in the standings, albeit just three points worse off than Georgia in second place.

In spite of the presence of Haaland and silky Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, Norway - who also failed to make it into the top tier of the Nations League for the 2024-25 campaign - have now gone winless in their last four games, and their only triumph from their last seven contests came against the Republic of Ireland in a November friendly.

While Norway are now without a clean sheet in eight successive matches, the hosts have not failed to score in a Euro qualifier on home soil since 2015, and their visitors are hardly adept when it comes to defending their own goal either.

Cyprus coach Temur Ketsbaia on March 25, 2023© Reuters

Norway and Cyprus can now empathise when it comes to demoralising late goals against them, as the visitors to Oslo were on course for a hard-earned point against Georgia after Ioannis Pittas cancelled out Georges Mikautadze's opener from 12 yards.

The Cypriots did an admirable job of keeping Napoli wing king Khvicha Kvaratskhelia quiet, but they had no such plan for Zuriko Davitashvili, who notched the winning goal just 10 minutes after coming off the bench to deny Temur Ketsbaia's men their first point in the section.

With a 3-0 defeat to Scotland also an unwanted blot on the notebook, Cyprus sit dead last in the section as the only nation without so much as a draw in Group A, but they have a game in hand on Norway and will leapfrog their hosts with a long-awaited triumph in Oslo.

Ketsbaia's charges could even rise above Nations League finalists Spain with a six-goal swing in their favour, although such a scenario is fanciful for a side that have let in at least two goals in their last six matches, and each of their last five Euro qualifying contests have now ended in defeat.

Cypriot fans should also look away now, as their side have lost all 11 of their previous competitive and non-competitive meetings with Norway, who have scored at least twice in all of those triumphs, including a pair of 2-0 successes in the 2018-19 Nations League.

Norway Euro Champ Qualifying form:


Norway form (all competitions):


Cyprus Euro Champ Qualifying form:


Cyprus form (all competitions):



Team News

Real Sociedad's Alexander Sorloth on September 8, 2022© Reuters

Rather than choose between one of Haaland and Alexander Sorloth, Solbakken started both strikers in the defeat to Scotland, although the latter was taken off with an unspecified injury concern 11 minutes from time.

Sorloth is not reported to be nursing anything serious, but Mohamed Elyounoussi will be waiting in the wings and may even be considered for a starting role over Ola Solbakken too.

With both of Scotland's goals coming after Solbakken had made his five changes, the Norway boss may be reluctant to shuffle the pack too much from the first whistle, as Haaland seeks to draw level with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Tore Andre Flo with a 23rd goal for the Lions.

As for their 111th-ranked visitors, Como defender Nicholas Ioannou will be back from a ban in time for the clash with Norway, and his return is particularly timely after Andreas Karo came off injured in the recent loss to Georgia.

Ioannou should be a straight swap for his stricken teammate if Karo is not passed fit for Tuesday, while Pittas's successful spot kick should earn him another starting role over Demetris Christofi, who is the highest scorer in the current Cyprus squad with nine strikes to his name.


Norway possible starting lineup:
Nyland; Ryerson, Ostigard, Strandberg, Meling; Odegaard, Berg, Aursnes; Sorloth, Haaland, Elyounoussi

Cyprus possible starting lineup:
Dimitriou; Gogic, Ioannou, Laifis; Antoniou, Charalampous, Kousoulos, Correia; Kastanos, Loizou; Pittas


SM words green background

We say: Norway 3-1 Cyprus

History should repeat itself in more ways than one here, as Norway make it 12 wins from 12 against their lowly foes with another multiple-goal showing.

The hosts' defensive deficiencies will hinder their chances of a victory to nil, but the Lions possess the necessary firepower to put Cyprus to the sword and force their way back into top-two contention.



For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.


Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a draw in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Draw:data


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Game History

How you voted: Norway vs Cyprus

Norway
74.1%
Draw
13.8%
Cyprus
12.1%
58
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Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Spain Spain870121
Q Scotland flag Scotland852117
3 Norway Norway832311
4 Georgia Georgia82248
5 Cyprus Cyprus80080

Group B

TeamPWDLPTS
Q France France871022
Q Netherlands Netherlands860218
3 Greece Greece841313
4 Ireland Rep. Ireland82066
5 Gibraltar flag Gibraltar80080

Group C

TeamPWDLPTS
Q England flag England862020
Q Italy Italy842214
3 Ukraine Ukraine842214
4 Macedonia N. Macedonia82248
5 Malta flag Malta80080

Group D

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Turkey Turkey852117
Q Croatia Croatia851216
3 Wales flag Wales833212
4 Armenia Armenia82248
5 Latvia Latvia81073

Group E

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Albania national flag Albania843115
Q Czech Republic Czech Republic843115
3 Poland Poland832311
4 Republic of Moldova Moldova824210
5 Faroe Islands Faroe Islands80262

Group F

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Belgium Belgium862020
Q Austria Austria861119
3 Sweden Sweden831410
4 Azerbaijan Azerbaijan82157
5 Estonia Estonia80171

Group G

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Hungary Hungary853018
Q Serbia Serbia842214
3 Montenegro Montenegro832311
4 Lithuania Lithuania81346
5 Bulgaria Bulgaria80444

Group H

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Denmark Denmark1071222
Q Slovenia Slovenia1071222
3 Finland Finland1060418
4 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan1060418
5 Northern Ireland flag N. Ireland103079
6 San Marino flag San Marino1000100

Group I

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Romania Romania1064022
Q Switzerland Switzerland1045117
3 Israel Israel1043315
4 Belarus Belarus1033412
5 Kosovo flag Kosovo1025311
6 Andorra flag Andorra100282

Group J

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Portugal Portugal10100030
Q Slovakia Slovakia1071222
3 Luxembourg flag Luxembourg1052317
4 Iceland Iceland1031610
5 Bosnia Bosnia H'vina103079
6 Liechtenstein flag Liechtenstein1000100


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