As this national team meeting started, captains Erik Botheim (22) and Jørgen Strand Larsen (22) gathered the rest of the U21 squad for an extraordinary players gathering. This led to a transformation towards Croatia, the duo believe.

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– Either the coach was fired when the players had a meeting – or something good came out of it, smiles U21 national team manager Leif Gunnar Smerud.

Neither he nor anyone else in the support kit was present when the “player boss” made the decision after a rather disappointing 1-2 loss against Austria in March. Vice-captain Jørgen Strand Larsen offers details on what to do in the days before Croatia beaten 3-2 in extra time last Friday and puts Norway in a very good position to go into the European Championships with two games to spare:

– Sometimes it’s okay to sit down. Only the players, no coaches, no “staff”, can think about it. There’s always a bit of “anxiety”, someone who doesn’t always have the courage to come forward when the coach is around, someone who doesn’t dare to speak his mind. We sat for 30-45 minutes and talked. Everyone comes with input. We’re planning to go to the European Championship, quite simply, the Groningen forward told VG.

This duo is also in charge on field against Croatia: Clubless captain Erik Botheim first made it 1-1, then Strand Larsen came at the back post in extra time and scored the winner from goal from goalscorer Sebastian Sebulonsen:

On Wednesday night, the same Croatia waiting against Estonia won 4-0.

This means, Norway will certainly qualify for the European Cup with wins in these two matches VG Broadcast + Sports matches against Finland (Friday) and Azerbaijan (Tuesday). But the combination with a draw in Turku Finland and a four-goal win on Marienlyst’s pitch four days later would also have been enough to win the group:

graphic: www.sofascore.com

U21 national team manager Smerud said he challenged the players to find out why they weren’t brave enough in the Austria game in March. This led to “extra innings” in the space ahead of the final three decisive matches in European Championship qualifiers.

– That with the leadership and the gang here, is very special. I am very happy to have people like Erik and Jørgen. Then there is feedback to us as coaches. How we train, how we play. Several balls are played. But it’s not like they decide how we’re going to play. “Purely tactical is quite laid out,” said Smerud of the Croatia match.

It was very good, especially before the break. On the left, Emil Konradsen struck Bayern’s Ceïde’s Josip Stanisic in the middle of the finish, Norway had the most of the ball, took it well and created chances. Botheim thought it was about them agreeing to let go and play ball.

– We were a bit of a coward and played a lot of long balls, Botheim thought about the previous game.

– We must have one and the same plan. We were going to play, and we did. You saw how it turned out, says Jørgen Strand Larsen.

– How did the national team manager accept what your players made at the meeting?

– Smerud is very good about it. He knew there were things we could do better. This also applies to us. We were on the same ball and had an open dialogue, guaranteed a match-winner at Marienlyst – which suggests that the 2000 trash, which belonged to him and Botheim, had been in all the previous European Championships for the age-only national team.

PS! Finland – Norway you see VG + Sports with kick-off at 17.00 Friday.