Source : ABC NEWS
Brazil, not Norway, will carry the heavier burden when the two sides meet in Sunday’s World Cup Round of 16, according to Kjetil Rekdal, whose late penalty sealed one of the greatest wins in Norwegian sporting history against the then four-time champions in 1998.
“Brazil definitely has the greatest pressure on them on Sunday,” Rekdal told Reuters.
He said Norway’s long-awaited return to the knockout stage had already made this tournament a success for the team, while anything less than victory for Brazil would be seen as a national humiliation.
Their last World Cup meeting remains one of Norway’s most cherished sporting memories.
Rekdal scored a cool 89th-minute penalty at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome to secure a 2-1 victory over an already-qualified Brazil in 1998 and send Norway into the knockout stage.
He believes that result, and Brazil’s winless record against Norway, may still sit somewhere in the minds of their opponents.
“That fear will always be there — the dread that they are going to slip up against Norway once again,” he said.
For Norway’s new generation, led by Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard and Antonio Nusa, 1998 was history rather than baggage, he said.
“I don’t think Haaland and Odegaard are thinking about Norway beating Brazil in ’98,” Rekdal said.
“They do not need the ghosts of the past to believe they are equal to the five-time world champions; their everyday reality at the absolute summit of European club football has already taught them that.”
Rekdal said the current generation, built around players competing regularly at the highest level in Europe, were stronger than the Norway side that reached the last 16 in France 28 years ago.
Brazil would still begin as favourites, he said, but Norway’s attack gave them a route to another upset.
His prediction is unequivocal.
“2-1 to Norway,” he said.
“History repeats itself in football. It actually does quite often.”
– Reuters
