Norway have finally lived up to World Cup billing – a reunion with Brazil is perfect timing | Lars Sivertsen

Ståle Solbakken’s side have surpassed previous golden generation as they prepare to meet team they beat in 1998

For a country of 5.6 million people, Norway’s list of competitive achievements is remarkable. Our winter Olympians gobble up medals at a freakish rate, our women’s handball team is all-conquering, we’ve had standout successes in athletics such as the Ingebrigtsen brothers, we’ve had two tournament winners on this season’s PGA tour and, improbably, Norway has also produced the greatest chess player of all time. And while these successes are cherished and celebrated, nothing unites the country quite like football – and no match has stopped the country in its tracks quite like the 2-1 win against Brazil in their final group game of the 1998 World Cup.

The sound of commentator Arne Scheie announcing “Vi har scoret i Marseille!” (We have scored in Marseille!) is as firmly etched into our brains as much as anything said by Norwegians poets and politicians in the last 50 years. Scheie was already something of a national treasure, a commentator known for his level-headedness and factual rigor, but when Norway won a late penalty with the score 1-1 he lost the run of himself entirely. He referred to the penalty taker, the then Hertha Berlin midfielder Kjetil Rekdal as “Kjetil Reknett, of Werder Bremen” (Reknett is not a surname in Norwegian or, as far as I am aware, any other language).

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