PREVIEW: Norway face Iraq in World Cup group of death | OneFootball

Dark horse Norway get their first World Cup campaign in nearly three decades underway as they face Iraq in an incredibly tricky G Group I featuring both France and Senegal.

Much has been made of Norway heading into this years World Cup, as they have a host of mercurial talents up-front and a well-drilled backline to make up a consistent and very tough to beat side.

Although Norway are placed in a group containing two-time World Cup winners France and African Cup of Nations runners up Senegal, they are expected to make a good account of themselves and their first hurdle will be facing Iraq.

Competing in just their fourth ever World Cup, Norway are in their golden generation at the moment and will be desperate to beat their best ever performance at the finals which was reaching the round of 16.

Containing the obvious talents of Erling Haaland – making his debut at the World Cup – and Martin Odegaard, Norway have exciting players all over the pitch, including wingers Oscar Bobb and Antonio Nusa.

Iraq are a little bit more of an unknown quantity heading onto the world stage, taking a long and arduous approach to qualifying.

The middle-eastern side are competing in their second ever World Cup finals, 40 years on from their first and only ever previous appearance at Mexico ’86.

The nation has gone through extreme hardship during the last 25 years due to conflicts and internal politics, but qualification to the World Cup has the Iraqi fans dreaming of some shock results and amazing memories.

One of the main reasons people are so on board with Norway was their elite qualifying campaign that saw the Nordic’s go eight out of eight, battering four-time World Cup champions Italy in the process.

A remarkable 37 goals scored and just five conceded in eight games just shows how remarkable the Norwegians have been in-front of goal, more specifically Earling Haaland who netted 16 times. Showing his incredible goalscoring ability at International level.

Iraq’s qualification was a little more complicated such is the nature of the notoriously difficult AFC qualification route.

After having a route similar to Norway in the group stage by winning six of their six, scoring 17 times and conceding just twice in a group containing Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia.

That took the side into the third qualifying round where they were put into a six-team group consisting of Kuwait, Palestine, Oman, Jordan and South Korea. The Iraqi’s finished third in that group and so had to go to another gruelling knockout round.

In what seemed like endless group stages, the latest one for Iraq saw them face off against Saudi Arabia and Indonesia where they finished second behind Saudi Arabia.

They then finally got over the line after beating the United Arab Emirates 3-2 over two legs. Its an incredible achievement considering all the hurdles they have had to overcome.

Norway arrive at the World Cup with a wealth of elite European talent throughout their ranks that include possibly the best striker on the planet in Manchester City’s Earling Haaland.

Behind the striker is Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard who has won the Premier League with his side this season and has been a key player.

Elsewhere they have explosive winger Antonio Nusa who has shone for RB Leipzig and will be a problem for any side the Norwegians come up against.

With all this attacking output they’ll be lucky that they’ve got Julian Ryserson who has been immense for Dortmund this season in the Bundesliga.

As for Iraq, they will be with the legendary Aymen Hussein who is the countries fifth all-time leading goal-scorer having represented the national team since 2015.

They also have the talents of Amir Al-Amari who has been consistent all season in the Polish league for Cracovia and former Manchester United midfielder Zidane Iqbal who has been impressing greatly for Utrecht in the Eredivisie.

Norway’s meeting with Iraq kicks off at 23:00 (BST) with coverage available on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.