Norway’s team doctor has hit back at reports suggesting that the squad are battling a sickness bug ahead of their World Cup quarter-final against England.
Erling Haaland’s second-half double sealed Norway’s 2-1 win over Brazil to set up a quarter-final tie against England, which kicks off in Miami at 10pm BST on Saturday.
Speaking ahead of the game against England, Norway’s head coach, Stale Solbakken, raised concerns over the health of his squad due to the amount of travelling required throughout the World Cup.
Norway set up their World Cup training base in Greensboro, North Carolina, and have travelled across the United States to play their games in Boston, New York and Dallas.
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‘We’ve really only had Jorgen [Strand Larsen] who has had a fever, but then there’s been a bit of coughing and rasping scattered throughout,’ Solbakken said.
‘But there’s air conditioning, flights, changing rooms and all that. There’s 50 people [in Norway’s travelling party], so it would be strange if something or other didn’t crop up.’
However, Norway’s team doctor, Ola Sand, insists reports of illness in the squad have been overblown.
‘All players are healthy now,’ Sand told Nettavisen.
‘Very little fuss considering that we have been close together for almost six weeks.’
When asked about the headlines in the English media about the alleged ‘sickness bug’ spreading across Norway’s squad, Sand replied: ‘So great that they believe this. We are in control.’
However, speaking before Norway’s 2-1 win against Brazil, striker Jorgen Strand Larsen admitted the severity of his illness at the start of the tournament was not fully disclosed.’
‘I had been in the hospital bed for two days straight and was really sick,’ Strand Larsen told Nettavisen.
‘At first you get scared. I woke up the day before the match and felt it a little, and then it was worse than I had imagined. I got ‘FOMO’ [fear of missing out] and thought I wouldn’t be allowed to join.’
Strand Larsen was able to recover quickly as he was named on the bench for Norway’s 4-1 win over Iraq in their opening World Cup group game on June 16.
‘Many people told me that my smile was back in place in the morning [on match day], and then they realized that I was starting to get better again,’ he said.
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