– I am left with many impressions, of course. At least when it comes to bombs and surprises that we rarely see. Additions in time became a new thing. Yes, it was very strange. Egil “Drillo” Olsen takes time for a summary chat with news two days after Argentina secured the WC gold at the Lusail stadium in Qatar. – Mediocre The father of football naturally kept a close eye on the sporting aspects during the championship, but the judgment is as direct as the style of play he himself has stood for: – The quality of what was performed was relatively mediocre, Drillo asserts to news. – Especially considering that it was a WC final. And it is now clearer than ever that the best football teams in the world now are not national teams. It is a club team, he adds. What is your verdict on the football World Cup? Sporty of very high quality Mediocre Sporty of very low quality Show result – What in particular do you think is mediocre and sensational? – It’s about defensive organisation, there was a lot of weirdness there. It was hard to get a hold of what they were actually trying to do. There were a lot of unnecessary ball losses in the own half, which in turn meant that many of the goals did not come from very good attacking play, but hopeless attacking play by the team that lost the ball. There were too many of them in the WC. I was not impressed by the quality, says a disappointed Drillo. – Own goal from Messi To take an example of just such loss of the ball: In the final against Argentina, France scored the late equalizing goal 2-2 just before full time after Lionel Messi lost the ball on his way forward. – I almost call it an own goal from Messi, says Drillo with a smile. Several commentators during the World Cup have, in contrast to the coaching icon, praised the quality during the World Cup, arguing that the game has benefited from the fact that the vast majority of players are in the middle of the season. Infantino: – Good quality Fifa president Gianni Infantino is among those who have allowed themselves to be excited. – I have actually seen all the games, and to put it very simply and clearly, this has been the best group stage in a World Cup ever. The matches have been of good, good quality, said the controversial Fifa boss recently. – Then I disagree. I was not impressed with the quality. Naturally, there were a number of individual performances of a very high level, but when even Messi makes such general blunders… No, I was not impressed by the quality, repeats Drillo. Egil “Drillo” Olsen commented on the WC on radio for news. He did not let himself be dazzled by what he saw on the screen from Qatar. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell National team manager Ståle Solbakken is not as critical of what he saw. But he believes the championship was characterized by the teams not daring to experiment too much. – There have not been major trends, and there has not been much new to discover. It could probably be that there has been a little short preparation time for the teams leading up to the championship, it went straight from series play into the World Cup, says Solbakken to news. – Morocco was the team with a capital L The national team manager points out that there was one team that often changed formation during the matches, and that was the winning team Argentina. – They proved to be the most tactically flexible, but perhaps did not quite succeed in that, since they were picked up by both the Netherlands and France. Otherwise, we see that it is still the best players who decide the matches. The World Cup’s two best players, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi, decided a lot for their teams. As the tournament progressed, it became clearer, at least to me, that Morocco was the team with a capital L. They were the ones who put together the best team based on the conditions, he believes. – What can Norway learn from Morocco? – A lot! They had an intensity in their defensive game, and defended their own box very well. Plus they had some composure with the ball so they could play a bit themselves. And then they experienced that some players, who were not expected to be dominant, flourished during the championship. National team manager Ståle Solbakken followed the WC with interest. Photo: VEGARD GRØTT / BILDBYRÅN Norway’s men’s national team’s next mandatory match will be played against World Cup disappointment Spain on March 25, when European Championship qualification starts. – Spain was a little impotent. Solbakken therefore kept an extra eye on the Spaniards, who were eliminated as early as in the round of 16 against Morocco. – Then we meet the team that had the ball the most in the entire World Cup, the team that is most secure in passing and that perhaps had the best positional play offensively and defensively, and that really is the team that is best with the ball between the sixteen metres. But if you take away the Costa Rica game, they were a bit impotent in the last 20 metres, although I think they put up a good game against Germany as well. But now they are changing coaches, so maybe they will bring in other players and new things. – How will Norway get a result against Spain? – We have to be at our best, and sprinkle in some Moroccan defensive play and calmness, he says with a smile. Something that Drillo was impressed by in the World Cup was the new trend of far more additional minutes than usual in international top football. The move was a deliberate move by Fifa, and the old national team manager gives two thumbs up after seeing it play out in practice. – I have some sense of it, but it is connected with the breaks in the game we get. Not only injuries, but also because of VAR. It comes into the picture stronger and stronger. That they add a lot, I think that’s perfectly fine. But the fact that the judges are not better at dealing with filming and delaying time, it surprises me, because it should have been possible to do something about it. Nobody likes that, wasting time is the opposite of entertainment, says Drillo. And as usual has a point.
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– There was a lot of strangeness – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
