Norway’s World Cup-bound national football team played another exhibition match just before the Easter holidays, this time on home turf that drew more disappointment than the 0-0 result against Switzerland. Some likened the dry and uneven grass field to a potato patch.
Norway’s national football federation NFF apologized for the condition of the pitch right after the match, admitting the federation took “a calculated risk” in allowing lots of activity on the field last autumn, after the grass stopped growing. “We knew that could create challenges in early spring,” NFF admitted, adding that the federation could well understand negative reaction “that the field isn’t greener and better.”
The match before more than 23,000 fans on Tuesday ended with no scoring on either side, even though Norway’s star player Erling Braut Haaland was back in action. Commentator Kristoffer Løkberg claimed it was “embarrassing” for Norway “to present such a pitch” for “an important training match” for both sides ahead of the World Cup.
The next such match will be against Sweden on June 1 followed by the World Cup itself, where Norway will open in its qualifying group against Iraq in Boston on June 17, Senegal in New York on June 23 and France in Boston on June 26.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
