Four Years On.... Scotland V Norway Previe

Revenge is possibly something on the mind of the Scotland players. Almost exactly 4 years ago, Norway came to Hampden and became the third side to win there in World Cup qualifiers (After Poland in 1965 and Wales in 1985, Belarus have also won a World Cup qualifier at Hampden in October 2005), pretty much ending the Berti Voghts era.

Again, this is a must win match, Scotland despite the win in Iceland are still behind the 8-ball thanks to their loss in Macedonia. As I said in an earlier blog, the away tie in Macedonia is possibly the toughest away tie (except the Holland tie) in the group. But to drop all 3 points, not the best start.

However, there are signs that George Burley is getting things right, I think that he must stick with a 3 man centre midfield, continuing the thread here established by Craig Brown with his use of 3-5-2, going up to Alex McLeish’s favoured 4-5-1. I was taken aback by the criticism of Burley after the Macedonia, led by Grumpy Jim Traynor. I did wonder, when listening to his phone in show, when did we turn into England. The negativity coming from the callers was strange, and somewhat Un-Scottish!

This is a must win game for Scotland, and is a vital one for Norway (who only have a 2-2 home draw against Iceland so far in this group), the key rivals for the playoff place. A win on Saturday will set Scotland up for the toughest game of the group, Holland in Amsterdam in March.