Kazakhstan vs Norway: Preview, Prediction, Lineups and Team News | Nations League

Kazakhstan and Norway face off in a Round 1 clash of the UEFA Nations League this week. Neither side had qualified for Euro 2024 and will be eager to avoid defeat at any costs. This competition represents a chance for them to prepare for World Cup qualifying.

Preview of Kazakhstan vs Norway

Kazakhstan gained promotion to League B of the UEFA Nations League in the 2022/23 campaign and they will be simply hoping to avoid relegation from this league. They are what is called minnows, ranked a lowly 109 in the world.

Norway on the other hand have heavily flattered to deceive. Failure to qualify for the Euros was seen as a massively bad thing for a side that are so heavily stacked, it might well be their Golden Generation. They are ranked 50th by FIFA in World rankings.

Kazakhstan Team news

Under the management of former Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov, Kazakhstan are looking to establish themselves as a side that could soon qualify for a major international tournament. They have shown massive improvement in the last few years. An interesting thing to watch here will be whether they will employ a 3 at the back system to stop Norway’s fearsome attack.

Norway Team news

The challenge for Norway is simple. Before the start of the 2026 World Cup, they will to have to find a way to utilise all the talent in their squad and make a good team, who can at minimum qualify. Norway’s attacking talents are fearsome and manager Stale Solbakken needs to fit the pieces together well and that will be most of the job done.

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Predicted XIs –

Kazakhstan Predicted XI (3-4-3): Shatsky; Alip, Malyi, Erlanov; Beysebekov, Kuat, Tagybergen, Vorogovskiy; Zainutdinov, Aimbetov, Samorodov

Norway Predicted XI (4-3-1-2): Nyland; Ryerson, Ostigard, Hanche-Olsen, Pedersen; Berge, Thorsby, Odegaard; Nusa; Sorloth, Haaland

Prediction

Norway are good at scoring goals as one would expect. Defence however remains a worry but it is time that Norway puts sides like Kazakhstan to the sword. Kazakhstan will be the underdogs massively, as they come into this game on the back of 5 consecutive losses. We expect Norway to win 2-0.

Head to head

These two sides have never played each other before.

Betting odds

Kazakhstan win -7.50
Draw – 4.75
Norway win – 1.40

Key players

Kazakhstan

Nuraly Alip – The Zenith St Petersburg defender will be under lots of pressure in this game, having to deal with the might of Norway’s attack. How the 24 year old does against Haaland and Co. will be very important to set the tone for the team.

Norway

Erling Haaland – All of the players who have had genuine claims to have been the best players of their generations have at some point or the other carried their national teams in big tournaments. This is Erling Haaland‘s time to do that now. He has 10 goals in 9 games for his country this year and expect that to continue.