Our prediction for this Nations League match:
Almaty Central Stadium will host Friday’s Nations League game between Kazakhstan and Norway, the two teams who meet for the first time in the competition. Kazakhstan aim to put an end to their four-game losing run in all competitions, but they will have a mountain to climb in their opener. As important attacker Maksim Samorodov misses out with injury, home win should not be considered.
The Norwegians, on the other hand, aim to make amends for the unsuccessful EURO 2024 qualifying campaign. As key attacker Erling Haaland has been scoring goals for fun in the new Premier League campaign with Man City, anything but a routine away win would be a big surprise. Arsenal playmaker Martin Odegaard made the cut as well as new Atletico Madrid striker Alexander Sorloth. Sevilla shot-stopper Orjan Nyland should start in goal for the visiting side.
Highlighted Team (Norway):
Norway are a Nordic side that participated three times at the FIFA World Cup finals (1938, 1994 and 1998). The Norwegians were producing fine performances at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, with the team setting up a meeting with Italy in the last 16 of the showpiece tournament thanks to a 2-1 win over Brazil in their last group match.
However, the Azzurri proved to be a big catch for Norway and thanks to Bobo Vieri’s goal the Italians made it to the quarter-finals. Norway only once qualified for the European Championship finals, with the team suffering elimination in the group stages of the 2000 tournament in Belgium and Netherlands. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the most famous Norwegian player and it is well known that he helped Manchester United beat Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final.
The “Baby-faced” striker scored the winner for the Red Devils in the dying seconds of the match. Norway play their home games at Ullevaal Stadion, which was opened in September, 1926. The capacity of the venue is 28.000.