Martin Odegaard's Goal Boosts Norway Ahead of World Cup
Martin Odegaard walked off into the American night with sweat on his brow, a goal to his name and, at long last, a sense that the worst of his knee torment might finally be over.
The Arsenal captain struck the equaliser for Norway in a 1-1 draw with Morocco in their final World Cup warm-up in the United States, a neat finish that carried more meaning than just the scoreline. For three months he had played through pain, the problem first flaring in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw at Brentford back in February. Every sprint, every twist, every tackle since then has been a negotiation with his own body.
On Sunday, the dialogue sounded different.
“It felt good. I’ve been struggling with my knee for a while,” he told TV2 after the game, the relief evident. “I feel like it’s starting to ease now and I feel like it’s been good for a while. My physical shape is good. It was hot out here, but I felt like I was getting better outside.”
This is not a player easing into the summer. Odegaard started Arsenal’s Champions League final defeat to PSG in Budapest, carrying that knee all the way to the last club game of the season. Now the switch flips. Club football is parked; Norway is everything.
For the first time since 1998, Norway are heading to a World Cup. They land in Group I, where Iraq, Senegal and France await. It is a demanding section, but their captain arrives with rhythm. The goal against Morocco was his fifth for his country, another small step in a personal chase he has turned into a dressing-room joke.
After scoring, Odegaard held up four fingers in the direction of head coach Stale Solbakken. The message was playful but pointed. Solbakken scored nine times for Norway in his own international career. Odegaard is now on five and closing.
“Now there are only four left. We are getting closer!” he smiled afterwards.
Solbakken has been urging his captain to add more goals to his elegant orchestration. The response is coming, one finish at a time.
The setting in the United States, though, has brought its own quirks. Several teams have grumbled about the pitches and Odegaard did not hide his frustration with the surface, or at least with his early adjustment to it.
“The one I gave away was ugly, luckily I got it fixed again,” he admitted of a loose moment on the ball. “It was a bit loose, and I was a bit unfamiliar with the bounce on the field and such. Maybe I can blame it a bit, but I think we worked our way into the game and got better as we went along. We could have won in the end.”
That last line matters. Norway, like Morocco, are being talked about as dark horses for this World Cup. Not favourites, not yet, but the kind of side no giant wants to see in a knockout draw. Performances like this – steady under pressure, improving as the minutes tick by – feed that narrative.
Odegaard sits at the centre of it all. Arsenal’s creative hub, Norway’s standard-bearer, a player who has dragged himself through the sharp end of the season with a knee that refused to cooperate. Now, with the opener against Iraq looming next week, he finally feels close to 100 per cent.
The pain is easing. The goals are coming. The World Cup is next.
