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Rekdal recalled that Norway controlled the game in Spain but still lost 3-0, gave away a lead in the last three minutes against Scotland in June and lost 2-1 - and also failed to hold on to a 1-0 lead in Georgia in March. “When it comes down to it, we are not there,” Rekdal says.

That is all the more saddening for the Norwegians, he says, because they have the best generation they have had in decades. “Our football as a whole has taken a leap. You can see that not only in Haaland and Ödegaard, but also in the fact that we now have players at Sevilla FC, SSC Napoli, Burnley FC, Brighton & Hove Albion, Borussia Dortmund or Ajax Amsterdam, and that we are achieving good success with the youth teams,” Rekdal explains. And yet Norway regularly fails. “We are the HSV of Europe,” Rekdal even says, because the Norwegians mess up the qualification for major tournaments as regularly as Hamburger SV messes up the return to the Bundesliga.

Norway has fallen “behind countries like Finland, North Macedonia and Albania” and, according to results, is “more on a par with San Marino, Liechtenstein or Andorra”, Rekdal complains. Maybe they should go the “German way”, says Rekdal, and organise a big tournament together with Sweden and Denmark. Because then Norway - like Germany for 2024 - would automatically qualify.