Norway v. Scotland: Not Even Close to a Preview

The stomachs of Scotland fans are already churning as they hear all-too-familiar phrases being bandied about – “must win” … “need luck” … “depleted squad”. Tomorrow, we Tartan Army faithful face possibly the most important match of George Burley’s time in charge of the Scotland side, a road trip to Oslo to face Norway in a World Cup qualifier.

The stakes couldn’t be much higher. With Netherlands already putting a bow on this group for themselves, we have only the second-place playoff spot to play for, and that’s where we sit today, only ahead of third-place Macedonia by a single goal and a game in hand. Iceland has been eliminated and we can make it a two-horse race against Macedonia with a win over Norway tomorrow.

After a long heat wave, it started raining today, and I do take that as a good omen, but all Scotland fans know the long sad history of Scottish “luck” involving the World Cup. The stars have never lined up for us – any success we’ve ever had has been hard earned, and if we want three vital points from our Norwegian adventure, we’ll have to work for them. I will be taking off work to watch, shirt and scarf on, and I do have hope we can pull it out. But there’s a voice in the back of my head, a voice I don’t want to listen to, reminding me of how many times we’ve left it close, reminding me of the last Norway match, of Iwelumo’s miss … but I also remember Paris, and I know we can beat teams that greatly overshadow Norway.

Let’s put them away early and ruin the Norwegians’ day, week and campaign. Here are the boys that will represent Scotland, for better or worse:

GK: David Marshall;
DF: Alan Hutton, Gary Caldwell, Steven Caldwell, Steven Whittaker;
MF: Scott Brown, Paul Hartley, Darren Fletcher;
FW: James McFadden, Kenny Miller, Ross McCormack

Subs: Langfield, Barr, Berra, Davidson, Maloney, McAllister, G Alexander, Commons, Clarkson, S Fletcher, Naismith.