Eggen on the Norwegians

By Matt Spiro

Le Mans UC 72 defender Dan Eggen has not played for Norway since sustaining a serious knee injury after UEFA EURO 2000™.

Reign in Spain
But having enjoyed six successful seasons in Spain with RC Celta de Vigo and Deportivo Alavés, the veteran of two FIFA World Cups and one UEFA European Championship is well-placed to offer advice to his fellow countrymen as they prepare for Saturday's UEFA EURO 2004™ play-off first leg against Spain. uefa.com spoke to the Norwegian international ahead the match.

uefa.com: Do you still follow the national team and do you have hopes of making an international comeback?

Dan Eggen: Yes, of course I follow their progress. Many of my friends are still playing in the national team, and I am Norwegian after all - so it interests me a lot. Unfortunately I do not get to see all of the matches, but I read the newspapers and I follow matches on the internet. From a personal point of view, I have not given up hope of playing for Norway again. I think I have settled down well in France with Le Mans and the way I am playing gives me hope that I am at least in the minds of the selection committee.

uefa.com: Having played in Spain and seen the quality of their players, do you believe Norway can cause an upset and qualify for EURO 2004™?

Eggen: It is going to be very difficult. I was in the team when we beat Spain at EURO 2000™. It was a massive shock then and it took an awesome performance from us. We played a very defensive style and had a bit of luck along the way. You always need luck to pull off a shock like that and the problem Norway now face is that the play-off is played over two legs. Usually over two matches luck evens itself out, so I have to admit I would be very surprised if Norway got through.

uefa.com: Do you believe there are any weaknesses in the Spanish side?

Eggen: The biggest problem for them could be overconfidence. From experience I can tell you that the Spanish public will be expecting - and demanding - a comfortable win. As soon as the draw was made there will have been 40 million Spaniards all thinking, 'We're on our way to Portugal'. They struggled against Greece and Ukraine in the group stage for exactly that reason. But these days the players are so professional and I am sure that, for such an important game, the coach will have knocked any complacency out of their heads. Apart from that, Norway's best chance is to try to avoid a heavy defeat in Spain and then hope that it will be minus 20 or minus 30 degrees in Norway! Seriously, though, it will be cold over there and the Spanish will not like that.

uefa.com: What are the strengths of the Norway team?

Eggen: We have some really talented individuals these days but for some reason they don't seem to gel. They were hoping to do much better in the group but things just didn't click. I think the teams I played in were less talented than this one but they played more like a team. Now they have guys like Ole Gunnar Solskjær and John Carew who are at their peak and among the best in Europe. The team should be doing better and hopefully on Saturday everything will come together at the right time.