Norway lose big names but squad remains strong
The pair, along with Leeds United midfielder Erik Bakke and Blackburn Rovers defender Henning Berg were withdrawn from the squad yesterday though manager Nils Johan Semb still has a strong squad to choose from with the likes of Aston Villa's Ronny Johnsen, Valencia's John Carew and Sunderland's Tore Andre Flo still available. Spurs' striker Stefan Iversen has also been added to the squad.
Currently topping Group Two ahead of Denmark and Romania, the Norwegians are confident that they can overturn Ireland with Flo who will face Sunderland team mate Kevin Kilbane believing that this current Norway side is far stronger than the team that missed out on qualification for the 2002 World Cup.
Meanwhile Republic midfielder Mark Kinsella believes that Ireland are still capable of winning their group and qualifying automatically for the European finals in Portugal next year.
And they fully realise that they will have to beat Albania, Georgia and Russia in their next three games in Dublin to do so.
Kinsella said that the Republic had re-ignited their European challenge by taking four points out of a possible six from away games against Georgia and Albania adding that one of the most encouraging features of their current situation was the ebullient form of Damien Duff. Kinsella, now one of Ireland's senior players after the spate of retirements since the World Cup, said: "Duffer is a nice selection for Brian (Kerr). He could play him down the left, play him up front, play him in the hole.
"He's got so many options with Duffer that he could play him anywhere. He was shoved in at the deep end up front at the World Cup and he came through that with flying colours."
Duff is regarded as Ireland's most creative player and Kinsella underlined that belief when he said: "If we can get the ball to Duffer no matter where he is he will run at defenders and he'll cause problems.
"We did that very well against Georgia and he caused them a lot of problems. Albania was a little bit difficult. We knew how good Albania were, we'd seen the videos.
People looked on that as an easy win for Ireland but we had to work extremely hard to get a point and we found it difficult to get the ball to Damien."
Kinsella admitted his regret at the international retirement of his former Charlton colleague, Dean Kiely.
"I only found out about Dean's decision on Friday when I got a phone call and checked the teletext. I haven't spoken to Dean. Players make decisions and he is 32 going on 33 and Alan Shearer made his decision to prolong his club career by retiring.
"With Deano five years playing at international level and eight caps meant he had a lot of travelling and you cannot argue with anything he's done for Ireland. He's a top pro and whenever he was called upon he did the job."
NORWAY (revised squad): Holtan (Odd Grenland), E Johnsen (Rosenborg), Olsen (Viking), Hangeland (Viking), Basma (Rosenborg), Bergdolmo (Ajax), R Johnsen (Aston Villa), Hansen (Arminia Bielefeld), Lundekvam (Southampton), Andersen (Wimbledon), Carew (Valencia), Rudi (Germinal Beerschot Antwerp), Iversen (Tottenham Hotspur), Flo (Sunderland), Larsen (Nurnberg), Leonhardsen (Aston Villa), Rushfeld (Austria Wien).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
