Arsenal captain rescues Norway after World Cup warning | OneFootball

The Arsenal captain struck with 15 minutes left after Norway fell behind early against a Morocco side viewed as one of the tournament’s dangerous outsiders.

Photo by Vincent Carchietta/Getty Images

Martin Odegaard rescued Norway with a late equaliser as they drew 1-1 with Morocco in their World Cup warm-up match in New Jersey.

The Arsenal midfielder did not score often this season, with injuries interrupting his league-winning campaign, but he produced the key moment for Norway with just 15 minutes remaining.

By that stage, both sides had already made several changes, but the goal still gave Norway something to take from a difficult test against strong opposition.

Norway made a poor start, falling behind after eight minutes when Brahim Diaz put Morocco in front.

Morocco’s pedigree meant the scoreline at half-time was hardly a disgrace. They reached the semi-finals of the last World Cup and played in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations over the winter, but Norway still needed a response after a flat opening.

It came through Odegaard, who levelled late on after the ball was pulled back inside the box, and ensured Norway avoided defeat before their World Cup opener against Iraq at midnight on 17 June Swedish time.

Erling Haaland played 72 minutes but had only four touches, leaving Odegaard as the player to provide Norway’s most important attacking contribution on the night. He played 80 minutes, with 50 touches and 35 of his 39 attempted passes successful. According to our partner, Fotmob, Odegaard was the second-highest rated player from either side on 7.6 (Morocco’s Abdessamad Ezzalzouli was PotM on 7.8)

It was only Odegaard’s fifth international goal in 68 appearances.