Jonathan Liew

actually.

They are simply that good and their highest level, the level of football they're capable of playing is so high.

But against teams that can really hurt them, that can play against them with genuine freedom and invention, I do wonder whether that defence is going to hold up against really, really elite opposition.

No, absolutely not.

I mean, I think a lot of people are talking them up as dark horses, the famous tournament dark horse, which is probably putting the kiss of death on them.

But they were the top scorers in qualifying.

We know what they did.

The way they tore Italy apart in qualifying was frightening.

So this is a squad that obviously, marshalled and led by Haaland and the threat he creates, goes into this tournament with a huge amount of hope and quite a bit of expectation, actually.

There are not actually that many precedents for a team...

I mean, the omens for a team that hasn't competed in the World Cup for so many years.

And there have been quite a few of these teams over the years.

I remember, you know, Peru coming in, you know, really fancied in 2018.

You know, Canada as well.

There aren't that many precedents for a team coming back to the World Cup after such a long layoff and doing well.

Turkey in 2002, you'd say, is perhaps the only real outlier.

But generally...

The tournament know-how is such a huge deal.

And you wonder that if Norway get to a big knockout game or whether that lack of tournament know-how is going to sort of derail them.

But they do have so much talent.