What: International Friendly
Who: Norway vs. Republic of Ireland
When: Wednesday 20 August 1800 (BST)
Where: Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo, Norway

Modest Expectations

This week, Norway manager Age Hareide led a call to arms for the younger members of his Norwegian squad to make an positive impression ahead of the upcoming World Cup qualification campaign. Their group features difficult opponents in the shape of Scotland and the Netherlands as well as Scandinavian neighbours Iceland, and Macedonia.

The 54-year-old has announced that Brede Hangeland will be the new captain of the side - a player who was sorely missed when Norway crashed out of the qualification process of Euro 2008 to Turkey due to a disappointing 2-1 home reverse.

Expectations are modest around the Norwegian national team; however, they do boast some quality. Alongside Hangeland at Roy Hodgson’s Fulham is Erik Nevland, while Champions League winner John Arne Riise now plies his trade with Serie A runners-up Roma.

John Carew has become one of the most formidable opponents in the Premier League for Aston Villa, suggesting that there is at least a good nucleus on which Hareide can build for the future.

Exciting young talent abounds, with the likes of Mohammad Abdellaoue and Kristofer Haestad catching the eye with a number of quality displays for Valerenga.

Hareide, who along with Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has managed three championship winning sides in three different European countries, will be looking at the Irish encounter as a stiff warm-up ahead of the Group 9 set of fixtures.

Norway are currently 29th in the FIFA rankings and moved more places in 2007 than any other side except Mozambique.

Slow Out Of The Traps

Two matches into the Giovanni Trapattoni regime and progress in the Irish camp has been modest. After a 1-1 draw with Serbia at home in the Italian’s first game in charge, Ireland were thoroughly outplayed on neutral ground by Colombia despite emerging with the spoils, courtesy of a fortuitous Robbie Keane goal.

The 69-year-old coach has so far placed his emphasis on the basics for the Irish panel, with one training session reportedly including a drill on responding to throw-ins, as he seeks to make the Irish more comfortable in possession. Too often have the Irish been guilty of looking forward from the back without any other intention than hitting the corners.

Trapattoni has described Liverpool’s Robbie Keane as his Francesco Totti - player to link and create around the opposition area. With the right blend of personnel around the ex-Internazionale forward, the Irish potentially have an effective attacking unit.

Ireland square off against Trapattoni’s homeland Italy in Group 8 of the World Cup qualifiers, along with Bulgaria, old foes Cyprus, Georgia and Montenegro. The Boys in Green are scheduled to play Georgia in their opening fixture in early September, however, due to the delicate political climate there, the game will be played on neutral ground.

FORM GUIDE:

Norway

May 28 (H) v Uruguay 2-2 D Friendly
Mar 26 (A) v Montenegro 3-1 L Friendly
Feb 6   (A) v Wales 3-0 W Friendly
Nov 21 2007 (A) v Malta 4-1 W EC Qualifier
Nov 17 2007 (H) v Turkey 2-1 L EC Qualifier

Republic of Ireland

May 29 (N) v Colombia 1-0 W Friendly
May 24 (H) v Serbia 1-1 D Friendly
Feb 6 (H) v Brazil 1-0 L Friendly
Nov 17 2007 (A)  v Wales 2-2 D EC Qualifier
Oct 17 (H) v Cyprus 1-1 D EC Qualifier

TEAM NEWS

Norway

Norway will have to do without Brann duo Eirik Bakke and Jan Gunnar Solli, as well as Stabaek’s John Inge Hoiland, who have all excluded themselves through injury. Valerenga trio Kristofer Haestad, Daniel Fredheim Holm and Mohammed Abdellaoue have been summoned as replacements.

John Carew is a doubt with a muscle strain and Steffen Iversen will not feature; he was expelled from the team training camp for turning up late.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Rune Jarstein (Rosenberg), Jon Knudsen (Stabaek)

Defenders: Tore Reginiussen (Tromso), Brede Hangeland (Fulham), John Arne Riise (AS Roma), (Stabaek), Atle Roar Haland (Odense), Morten Skjonsberg (Stabaek)

Midfielders: Fredrik Stromstad (Le Mans), Martin Andresen (Valerenga), Morten Gamst Pedersen (Blackburn), Christian Grindheim (Heerenveen), Fredrik Winsnes (Stromsgodset) Kristofer Hæstad (Valerenga), Daniel Fredheim Holm (Valerenga)

Forwards: John Carew (Aston Villa), Mohammed Abdellaoue (Valerenga), Daniel Braaten (Toulouse), Thorstein Helstad (Le Mans), Erik Nevland (Fulham)

Possible starting XI: Jarstein - Hangeland, Reginiussen, Riise, Haland - Andresen, Pedersen, Grindheim, Stromstad - Carew, Nevland

Republic of Ireland

Still no Stephen Ireland to report for the Republic, but I can happily confirm that all members of his family are alive and well. However, Trapattoni has succeeded in luring Steve Finnan out of the international wilderness.

The occasional Liverpool right-back has been hankering for a game since falling out of favour with Rafa Benitez. Steven Reid took a knock on his knee on Sunday and is rated as doubtful, but he is expected to feature at some stage.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Shay Given (Newcastle), Dean Kiely (West Brom)

Defenders: Alex Bruce (Ipswich), Damien Delaney (QPR), Richard Dunne (Man City), Steve Finnan (Liverpool), Kevin Foley (Wolves), Kevin Kilbane (Wigan), Joey O’Brien (Bolton), John O’Shea (Man Utd)

Midfielders: Damien Duff (Newcastle), Stephen Hunt (Reading), Aiden McGeady (Celtic), Liam Miller, Andy Reid (Sunderland), Steven Reid (Blackburn), Glenn Whelan (Stoke)

Forwards: Kevin Doyle, Shane Long (Reading), Andy Keogh (Wolves), Daryl Murphy (Sunderland) Robbie Keane (Liverpool)

Possible Starting XI: Given, O’Shea, Dunne, Finnan, Kilbane - A Reid, S Reid, McGeady, Duff - Doyle,Keane

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

Fulham central defender Brede Hangeland will captain his country for the first time at the Ullevaal Stadium, and will be looking to shut-out the Irish attack. Norway kick off their World Cup qualification campaign in October against Iceland, and will be manfully led by the capable stopper. A clean sheet against a potentially potent Irish strike force will set the Norwegians in good stead for the upcoming and possibly hazardous campaign.

Although not a competitive fixture, the Norway game will still come as a welcome return to action for Steve Finnan. The Liverpool man admitted to being in domestic limbo after being frozen out by Rafa Benitez. Conversely, his international manager is begging him to play. He wants to play at a World Cup again, and Trap would like him to do so.

PREDICTION:

Don’t expect any fireworks in this one as both managers continue a period of ironing-out. In their two matches under Trapattoni, Ireland have scored two and conceded one. An Italian approach to defending it may be - effective but not enthralling. Norway may have the spark to get at Ireland once or twice, but this will not be a goal-fest.

Norway 0-1 Ireland

Ref From Peter Staunton - goal.com

What: International Friendly
Who: Ukraine vs Poland
When: Wednesday 20 August 18:00 CET
Where: Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany

Ukraine Preparing For Tough World Cup Group

After qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, their first-ever major international tournament as an independent nation, Ukraine were unable to build on that by also making it to Euro 2008. It must be said, however, that they found themselves in what became known as the Group of Death, which included World Cup finalists Italy and France, as well as a solid Scotland side.

Now the team coached by Alexei Mikhailichenko, who took over from Oleg Blokhin at the start of the year, prepare to face the World Cup qualifying round, and once again the odds seem to be against them. They have been drawn in Group 6 along with Fabio Capello’s new England side and Slaven Bilic’s impressive Croatia team, who came within seconds of making it to the Euro 2008 semifinals.

It is very likely that it will be a three-horse race to make it to the finals from this group, as the other teams, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Andorra don’t look like they will pose a threat. In any event, one would still bet on England and Croatia finishing in the top two.

Once again Ukraine will rely heavily on captain Andriy Shevchenko, who always gives everything when playing for his country, even though at club level he has been on a steady decline ever since joining Chelsea in 2006. However, also the likes of midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk and striker Andriy Voronin are experienced international players from top-drawer clubs (Uefa Cup winners Zenit St. Petersburg and Liverpool respectively).

Against Leo Beenhakker’s Poland, who impressed during the qualifying round for Euro 2008, it looks set to be an interesting and, on paper, evenly-matched encounter.

Poland Out To Forget Euro Disappointment

After they finished ahead of Portugal in their Euro 2008 qualifying group and becoming the first Polish team ever to make it to a European championship finals, many expected coach Leo Beenhakker’s side to do well at the tournament. But the finals at Switzerland and Austria turned out to be a big disappointment, as they could only manage a draw against Austria (1-1), and lost to both Germany (2-0) and Croatia (1-0).

Still, the Dutch coach had built up enough of a reputation to avoid the sack, and will lead the Eastern Europeans through their World Cup qualifying group as well. A group that on paper looks less daunting than Ukraine’s, as they have been drawn with a declining Czech Republic side, who were dumped out of Euro 2008 at the group stage by Turkey, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and San Marino.

There doesn’t seem to be one or more clear favorites to make it out of this group, unlike in Ukraine’s group, so Poland are definitely in with a good chance of reaching South Africa 2010. Among their most talented players are goalkeeper Artur Boruc of Celtic, who had a fine tournament at Euro 2008, midfielder Jacek Krzynowek of Wolfsburg, and striker Ebi Smolarek of Real Santander.

An interesting aspect of this game is that we will see the two joint-hosts of Euro 2012 in action. For both sides, what happens in the next two years will be very important for their reputation and morale leading up to the 2012 tournament, in which they will certainly hope to do better than this year’s co-hosts Austria and Switzerland, who both crashed out at the group stage.

FORM GUIDE

Ukraine

01/06 (Friendly): Sweden-Ukraine 0-1
24/05 (Friendly): Holland-Ukraine 3-0
26/03 (Friendly): Ukraine-Serbia 2-0
06/02 (Friendly): Cyprus-Ukraine 1-1
21/11 (Euro 2008 qualifier): Ukraine-France 2-2

Poland

16/06 (Euro 2008): Poland-Croatia 0-1
12/06 (Euro 2008): Austria-Poland 1-1
08/06 (Euro 2008): Germany-Poland 2-0
01/06 (Friendly): Poland-Denmark 1-1
27/05 (Friendly): Albania-Poland 0-1

TEAM NEWS

Ukraine

Goalkeeper Vyacheslav Kernozenko and defender Andriy Nesmachniy will be out due to injury.

Possible formation (4-4-2): Shovkovskiy; Shevchuk, Rusol, Mandzyuk, Kucher; Kalynychenko, Tymoschuk, Nazarenko, Levchenko; Voronin, Shevchenko.

Poland

No injury worries for Beenhakker.

Possible formation (4-5-1): Boruc; Wasilewski, Jop, Bak, Zewlakow; Smolarek, Dudka, Guerreiro, Lewandowski, Krzynowek; Saganowski.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine)

The former Milan star will lead his team out once again and the striker will be looking to score and get a morale boost ahead of the new season with Chelsea. Currently coach Luiz Felipe Scolari doesn’t seem to consider him a first choice, but a striker of Shevchenko’s class can always fight his way back into any team.

Artur Boruc (Poland)

The Celtic goalkeeper has been at the center of a number of transfer rumours, but in the end it seems the 28-year-old will stay in Scotland. He probably would have favored a move to Milan, who have been following the player ever since he gave an extraordinary performance against them in a last 16 Champions League match in the 2006/2007 season, but it seems only a matter of time before he earns a move to a big club.

PREDICTION

The 2012 co-hosts have had differing fortunes of late, but home advantage should allow Ukraine to share the spoils despite some tough times.

Ukraine-Poland 1-1

Ref From Danilo Pochini - goal.com

What: International Friendly
Who: Portugal (FIFA ranked 9) vs Faroe Islands (FIFA ranked 196)
When: Wednesday, 20th August 2008, 21:45 CET
Where: Estádio Municipal de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Portugal come into this game on the back of a disappointing Euro 2008 campaign, while the Faroe Islands will be hoping to get the most out of this match.

New Portugal Era

The end of Euro 2008 brought a major change to the Portuguese national squad: former Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz was installed as coach, replacing Luiz Felipe Scolari, who had signed for Chelsea prior to the competition.

This is the second stint of Queiroz at the helm of Portugal after an unsuccessful experience that ended in 1994 when he failed to take the team to the FIFA World Cup in the United States.

Queiroz is now hoping for better fortunes and has selected a 22-man squad for this friendly match with several surprises.

Several big-names have been left out of this match, such as Ricardo Quaresma, Ricardo, or Maniche. Portugal’s goal should be defended by Benfica custodian Quim, who missed Euro 2008 after sustaining a wrist injury.

The new Portugal boss also decided to not include hot prospects such as Miguel Veloso or Rui Patrício, both from Sporting, in his plans for this friendly.

Portugal have a lot to prove after a disappointing Euro 2008 campaign and Queiroz will have the difficult task of making his men forget Scolari, who was in charge for five years and took the squad to a second-place finish at Euro 2004 and a fourth-place finish at the World Cup two years later.

This will be a very important task for Queiroz ahead of the start of the 2010 World Cup qualifying, where Portugal will have to come up against the likes of Sweden and Denmark.

Faroese Dream

The Faroe Islands, coached by Jógvan Martin Olsen, should play a very defensive game, hoping to break Portugal down through counter-attack.

They finished rock-bottom of their group at the Euro 2008 qualifying without a single point and a -39 goal difference. This time around Faroe Islands were drawn in Group 7 of the World Cup qualifying and will have to play the likes of France and Romania.

This will be an important test for Olsen’s men against a squad that feature better and more experienced players, which is why the Faroe Islands are expected to pose little threat to the Portuguese side.

FORM GUIDE

Portugal

19/06/08 Portugal 2-3 Germany (Euro 2008)
15/06/08 Portugal 0-2 Switzerland (Euro 2008)
11/06/08 Portugal 3-1 Czech Republic (Euro 2008)
07/06/08 Portugal 2-0 Turkey (Euro 2008)
31/05/08 Portugal 2-0 Georgia (Friendly)

Faroe Islands

04/06/08 Faroe Islands 3-4 Estonia (Friendly)
16/03/08 Faroe Islands 0-3 Iceland (Friendly)
21/11/07 Faroe Islands 1-3 Italy (Euro 2008 Qualifier)
17/10/07 Faroe Islands 0-5 Ukraine (Euro 2008 Qualifier)
13/10/07 Faroe Islands 0-6 Iceland (Euro 2008 Qualifier)

TEAM NEWS

Portugal

Coach Carlos Queiroz will have to come up with an alternative to Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been a crucial piece for Portugal but will miss this game due to injury.
Eduardo and Danny will have the chance to earn their first international cap for Portugal’s main squad. Carlos Martins, Manuel Fernandes, Antunes, Duda and Daniel Fernandes all make their return to the squad.

Squad

Quim, Eduardo, Daniel Fernandes, Bosingwa  Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Bruno Alves, Fernando Meira, Pepe, Antunes, Miguel, Deco, Raúl Meireles, Duda, Carlos Martins, João Moutinho, Manuel Fernandes, Simão Sabrosa , Nani, Danny, Nuno Gomes, Hugo Almeida.

Faroe Islands

Coach Jógvan Martin Olsen is without veteran defender Óli Johannesen, who has over 80 caps for his national squad.

Squad

Jákup Mikkelsen, Rene Tórgarð, Jónas Þór Næs, Jóhan Troest Davidsen, Egil á Bø, Fróði Benjaminsen, Leif Niclasen, Einar Hansen, Høgni Madsen, Atli Danielsen, Mikkjal Thomassen, Chr. Høgni Jacobsen, Andreas Lava Olsen, Jákup á Borg, Símun Samuelsen, Christian Lamhauge Holst, Arnbjørn Hansen, Rógvi Jacobsen.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Portugal - Deco: With Cristiano Ronaldo out of this match, the Brazilian-born midfielder is expected to command the team and guide it to victory. The former Barça star pulled out a magical performance in his official debut for Chelsea and great things are expected from him under Carlos Queiroz.

Faroe Islands - Rógvi Jacobsen: The Faroese midfielder has 50 international caps to his name and is the squad’s top goal-scorer so he will be a player Queiroz will have to look out for.

PREDICTION

This should be a walk in the park for Portugal, who need to earn a boost ahead of the opening World Cup 2010 qualifying against Malta in September. The Faroe Islands are anything but a big gun and should found themselves lost amidst the Portuguese creativity.

Portugal 3-0 Faroe Islands

Ref From Luís Mira - goal.com