SPECIAL INTERVIEW: Ex-Professional Footballer Oyvind Klausen, Previewing the Norway vs. England Match

Born and raised in Norway, Oyvind Klausen studied in the United States and played collegiate soccer at Rollins College in Florida during the mid-1980s. He also played for the Orlando Lions in the pre-ASL era before returning to Norway, where he spent five seasons as a professional with IK Start in the Norwegian top division.

Today, Oyvind is a media executive and former Editor-in-Chief of a regional media company. A lifelong football supporter, he follows the game closely at both the international level and in the English Premier League.

1 SPEAKER_01: Hello, hello.

This is Declan Link in Orlando, Florida, with our latest edition

of World Cup Football, etc., on the eve of the big quarterfinal

World Cup game in Miami, Florida, between Norway and

England.

Today I have the pleasure of introducing my longtime

Norwegian friend Ivan Clausen in Norway to speak about tomorrow's

Big World Cup game.

And just a little bit of background, Oivan and I played

football at college together nearly 40 years ago, and we were

housemates together back in 1987 and 1988.

We've seen each other many times over the years.

But Oivan Clausen, welcome to World Cup Football, etc.

today.

SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much, Declan.

Nice to uh hear your voice again.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I um I'm very happy to uh talk to you and I

really really appreciate you uh giving up the time to uh to

spend talking to me about how many goals Norway are going to

lose to England by tomorrow.

Well we'll come back to that, Declan, I'm sure.

And and and might I add, um, I haven't had the pleasure of

playing with too many Norwegians over the years, but after Steve

Torkelson, you're the best Norwegian I've ever played with.

SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01: Anyway, I'd just like to um to give a little bio,

a shout out to Oiven um for our global listeners.

Uh Oiven was born and raised in Norway, and as I mentioned, he

studied in the United States at the same college I did at

Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and Oiven was there

during the mid-1980s because he's a lot older than me.

Uh I was a freshman when he was a senior.

He also played for the Orlando Lions in the pre-ASL era along

with me before returning to Norway, where he spent five

seasons as a professional with his local club in the

Christiansand Norway, IK Start, and that was in the Norwegian

top division.

Uh today Oiven is a media executive.

Sounds very fancy, Oivan, you'll have to give us more information

on that, and a former editor-in-chief of a regional

media company.

He is a lifelong football supporter.

He follows the game closely at both the international level and

in the English Premier League.

So again, welcome Oiven.

I've got some questions for you that I'm going to fire at you.

Hopefully they'll make sense and hopefully they'll follow a sort

of um flow.

First question is Norway have never reached a World Cup

quarter final before.

What does this mean for your country, um, the biggest

professional clubs in the in the top league and the smaller

Norwegian clubs?

And I hope I'm not being rude there, like your ex-team IK

Start, and it possibly even, you know, going down to the positive

impact it's going to have on all of the Norwegian club academies.

What do you think?

SPEAKER_00: Well, Dekla, I I honestly don't think people

outside Norway really understand what's happening here back home.

This is the biggest wave of national excitement since the

end of World War II in May 1945.

Of course, people see the celebrations, they've seen the

Norwegian audience at the stadiums, they've seen the

rowing, they've seen the packed pubs, the flags, the videos on

social media.

But that's only the visual part, visible part.

Um it's only the tip of the iceberg.

What's happening now in a small country like Norway um doing

well on the biggest stage uh globally is um much much bigger.

Like every Western um country in Norway has become uh diverse,

more multicultural, and sometimes more divided.

Uh we disagree about politics, immigration, economy, you name

it.

But football has the ability, like we have experienced

together, Declan, uh to um cut through all that.

Uh for 90 minutes, nobody during the game, nobody asks where

you're from, who you voted for, what you do for a living, or the

language you speak at home.

Um you're simply Norwegian.

It's incredibly powerful, and it's a it's an incredible uh

atmosphere in Norway at the moment.

SPEAKER_01: Brilliant.

I mean I think that well that that descriptive word you just

used there, powerful, sort of says it all because it just

sounds as though it's it's bringing everyone in the country

together in a way that you've never seen before.

SPEAKER_00: Never seen it, never seen it, and more uh older

people than I um has uh said that this this has not this has

not been uh like this since uh May 1945.

And it's incredibly powerful, and it's it's uh fueled by the

the team, which is um um there's players from all over the north

all over nowhere, all the way from the south to the north, uh

to the west to this to this uh to the east.

And um it's brought the tournament has brought people

together in in uh in a way that nothing else can.

Neighbors know never they don't they don't want to watch the

football game together, uh don't watch it alone, they watch it

together.

Friends, workplaces, families, they all share the same

conversation next morning.

Um and um of course it's easy to be carried away in an atmosphere

like this, but and the disagreement in society

obviously will return after the World Cup.

Um that's a normal in any uh democracy, but I generally

believe that those differences will be handled differently

after this, um, because the population has uh experienced

something together, and that togetherness uh, which has also

actually been um emphasized by Allen Holland uh in some

interviews, uh, they also reached a team uh in the US of

how the atmosphere is in Norway.

And um we've just been reminded that everything that divides us,

uh there's still something bigger that that uh unites us,

and um that's why I think this World Cup will be remembered for

far more than the football.

20 years from now, people are not just remembering the goals

or the results, they were gonna be remembered who they watched

it with, how the entire country stopped uh for a few magical

weeks.

And that's what football can do.

And honestly, uh I that's why I really, really hope that England

don't spoil our party just yet.

SPEAKER_01: Well, let's see.

May the best team win.

You mentioned um Erling Haaland.

I didn't want to be I didn't want to be predictable and

obvious and go straight to Erling Haaland, but you brought

him up.

Obviously, the team is united, the country.

But from a from an outsider's perspective, can you describe

how Erling Haaland is perceived in your home country, Norway?

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, um, I can.

Um he's definitely perceived as a superstar here in Norway as it

is uh as he is uh all over the world now.

Um but it but he is also perceived with a unique

Norwegian flair.

He's he's from Copp Far Cont farm country.

Uh he and he owns up to it.

He doesn't make himself any better than he is.

His dream is to own a small farm.

Um so he's very, very grounded.

Um at the same time, we see how the whole world is uh drawn to

towards him now.

Um the press conference yesterday that I think not many

English uh people were there because or journalists because

they're still in Kansas, but um and hasn't arrived in in uh in

Miami yet.

But um the most experienced sports photographer in Norway,

uh Delbeck, he categorized, and he has been around for a long

time, he categorized that press conference where Holland um

performed uh as the biggest press conferences seen since

Maradona in 1985, 86 uh World Cup.

And um I honestly think that the Norwegian Football Association

is not really fully prepared for what's coming with a possible uh

semi-final.

But the thing uh that I love most about Erling is is isn't

not isn't really his goals, it's uh how unbelievably relaxed he

is.

Um his attitude is basically just give me the ball and I'll

score.

Um he said, I don't know how I do it, just give me the ball and

I'll score.

No drama, no ego, just complete confidence.

And uh the annoying thing for everybody else is that he keeps

proving himself right.

Different clubs, different leagues, different defenders,

the same results, it's always goals.

So um he is an incredible guy, and um he's grounded, and I've

never ever seen him so fired up, so relaxed, and so confident as

he is at the moment.

And uh his um performances as uh uh in the in the in the training

sessions as that he he even in training sessions he is uh he's

firing up the whole squad just by being uh with his attitude

and and his uh his um uh yeah, his attitude and his his skills

and uh he uh he's carrying the whole team on his shoulders and

after the after the game against Ivory Coast, we were a little

afraid because he was really tired at the end, uh, that he

was uh sort of uh feeling the pressure of all his outside of

the pitch uh activities that goes on.

But uh he is uh in against Brazil, he was on fire again,

and um and uh I don't think uh well he is as prepared as you

can be as a 25-year-old.

It's incredible to think he's only 25.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the way he carries himself and he seems to

have been around forever and ever.

I mean, if you if you were Thomas Tuchel as the England

coach, would you would you sort of double up on him and accept

space elsewhere?

Or would you trust that your back line, you know, any who

whoever they end up playing there, because there's a lot of

questions for the England back line, or would you trust the

back line to defend him straight up?

SPEAKER_00: Um well I I I I would not double up.

Um I would be more uh I would pay more attention to who's

gonna serve him than uh Alan Horland himself.

Uh I think um paying too much attention to Horlan uh is a

mistake uh because uh he can be looking uninterested in the

game, uh sort of unengaged for uh 88 minutes, and then he's

there when he's needed most and he scores.

So uh you have to sort of uh make sure that um the people

around him doesn't uh serve him uh the goals, the the the balls

in the in the box that he needs.

It last time against uh last game against the Brazil, he

scored from outside uh the 18-yard box.

Uh that's very rare.

So you have to pay attention to him in the box.

And I'm sure Gabriel and Bussel knew this from uh meeting

Holland for several times uh over the years, and it's been

quite a battle between the two.

But when it counted the most, um the physical presence, the the

instinct, the the fire um was was too much for Gabriel.

And um and uh yeah, I think uh I think uh it's it's it's it's the

kind of it's the kind of uh player's who's the hardest to

defend against because uh I've seen it.

I'm a I'm uh um amateur cyclist and I've seen it in many many um

uh rides that uh bicyclists uh use the same tick uh trick as to

to look uninterested, to look tired on an uphill battle, and

then all of a sudden they go.

Um and uh it's always an um um and it's always um uh surprise

when when it happens.

And uh so uh and then the question is how do you how do

you defend against surprise?

It's very hard.

SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, if you agree with the statement that um

Norway Norway's attacking system is sort of built around Haaland,

even though he does wander around at times looking

disinterested, I think that's all part of what he does is to

try and have the defenders take their eye off the ball.

But if you agree with that that the the the attacking system is

built around him, Norway have actually conceded um at least

one goal in every game this tournament, and they've still

made the quarter finals for the first time ever.

Do you think that's a defensive weakness that England could

potentially exploit?

The fact that um the bit the the attacking system is built around

Haaland.

SPEAKER_00: Well, those two things are very different, I

think.

Um it's true that Noah has conceded a uh goal in every

game, but it's also uh scored in every single game, and it's

quite a quite a few goals.

And um and uh this is the Norwegian team now is not the

old uh Norwegian team that hope for a corner kick and defend it

for the dear life.

This is uh this is this team is technical.

This they're aggressive, they're creative, they're they're

attacking.

And um if England think that uh this is another Scandinavian

team who's gonna park the bus, uh they're about 20 years out of

date.

So so um I'm not really sure if the whole game is uh um is built

around Holland.

If you you often see him not participating in the uh

attacking uh at all.

So um he's just a finisher.

So it's uh the whole the whole uh philosophy and the build-up

of the team is is not relying on Holland at all.

So that sort of proves my point that England, if they are gonna

uh have some sort of uh a good strategy, they need to stop what

hap what happens around uh Holland and and not just uh

think about how you can defend the box uh uh with Holland in

it.

SPEAKER_01: Interestingly, I'm you know, I mean I live in

Orlando, as you know, and you lived in Orlando for a long

time.

You've been to you've been to uh Florida many times over the

years.

Personally, I think the uh the weather conditions, the

temperatures, the heat, the humidity are gonna play a

massive factor uh in a five o'clock game in Miami uh with

regards to the pace of the game.

So I think that's gonna to me that's gonna be a uh clearly

dictating the way the game is played from a tactical

perspective, because neither team, neither team can play the

way they do back in Europe, where the weather conditions are

completely different.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

I I agree.

Uh the weather is gonna be a factor.

You saw it last night actually when uh when France played

against uh Morocco.

Uh it was on and off, uh more off than on in in terms of uh

pace on the ball and the and the aggressiveness and uh and um so

this that will happen again tomorrow night or or or Saturday

night.

Um I think it will affect the way both teams are where they're

gonna put the pressure on defensively and how they're

gonna do it is definitely gonna affect it, and um there's gonna

be uh some long periods where either teams uh will have the

ball and be uh sort of slowing it down a little bit, and yeah,

so I think uh well as you said Declan, I've I've we've played

in Florida many years.

I've I came directly from Norway playing in in um in Orlando um

with a 90 plus uh degree of Fahrenheit and and uh huge

humidity, and and you have to change your game completely if

you're gonna survive 90 minutes.

And um, and um the the problem for both teams is that they're

not used to it and they don't have the time to to adapt to it

uh in training wise in training games.

You're thrown into um a highly, highly competitive uh game,

which is sort of either gonna make or break your football

future, and uh so so this is gonna be a massive uh factor,

and um not the least uh mentally.

Who is the strongest mentally?

How you how are you gonna be able to um play a smart game

with your body uh and um handle the the mental pressure and the

uncomfortableness and uh throughout the game because it's

gonna be incredibly uncomfortable for all of them.

It really is.

SPEAKER_01: I've been I don't know if you know this, but I've

been very fortunate.

I've been to all of the England games.

So they played it, England played in Dallas in in the

indoor stadium, so that those temperatures were fantastic.

They played in Boston, and it wasn't that was probably the

most uncomfortable weather they had to deal with.

They played in New York and it was sort of cloudy and rainy.

Um they played in Atlanta, which was another indoor stadium, and

then the conditions in Mexico City on Sunday night, you know,

they were they were somewhat hot, but not really that hot.

You had the altitude, which was a factor, you had all the other

stuff going on, but it was rainy and thunderstorms.

It's gonna be not for from England's perspective, it's

gonna be nothing like they've experienced so far, and in many

respects, probably the same for Norway.

SPEAKER_00: Right.

Same same thing.

So I think both the teams um is uh sort of equal in uh in the

way that they uh need to handle that.

Uh and also Norway has been fairly shielded from the worst

uh heat uh by thunderstorms and a little colder weather than I

expected.

And uh, so this will be uh this will be um a big test for both

teams.

SPEAKER_01: Yep.

Let me ask you, because I've got a couple of interesting

questions on the relationships.

Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard play together every week at

Arsenal.

Jude Bellingham and Erling Hawlin, uh, you know, they're

extremely close friends off the pitch.

What are your thoughts on the familiarity that Rice has with

Odegaard and vice versa?

And Jude Bellingham and Erlin Haaland have together.

Does that kind of relationship potentially soften a player in a

knockout game?

Does it enhance the way they play?

Is it a myth that outsiders just tell themselves?

Does Odegaard know exactly how to exploit Rice and Versiverse?

What do you think about the dynamics of those two relations,

those two relationships?

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, very interesting.

I hope that Rice plays, but because I heard he's sick, but

uh, but um let's hope that he he does play.

Uh obviously uh Erdigo said on the on the press conference a

couple of days ago that they've been talking on on the phone,

and obviously these these guys that you mentioned, both

Bettingham and Holland and Rice and Erdigo, they uh they know

each other well and they talk uh to each other and then um Rice

he knows Erdogan and Erdigo knows Rice.

Uh but um creative players like uh Erdogal uh usually wins those

battles because the defenders they they sort of react and um

Erdogan makes people react and he's but uh both players are in

very good form, uh being very important uh for their own for

their own team, and um so it would be very interesting.

I think for Bellingham and Holland, it's been a long time

since they played together, uh, but they're sort of best

friends, uh I hear, which is which is fine.

But again, for both the two relationships there, for 90

minutes they're not friends.

Uh after they afterwards they're sort of change uh exchange

shirts, but during the game they will happily kick each other if

they if they have to.

And uh this is the this the thing with the elite footballers

they uh switch uh switch off that friendship completely

during the game uh and then afterwards they uh respect each

other for whatever happened um so i think um i think half the

half the norwegian team is is uh has uh has um has their um their

daily life in the premier league uh which is a um which is as um

advantage i think they know how uncomfortable and uh difficult

this game will be they know exactly in every situation how

much they need to prepare what they need to prepare for what

sort of physical uh battle uh this will be um so i think

that's an advantage um i think that this game will be the most

uncomfortable difficult game norway has faced so far in the

world cup and um uh I just can't wait for the game to start no no

nor can I I'm heading down to Miami at eight o'clock in the

morning um apart from uh Holland and and and Odegaard from the

Norwegian perspective Ivan uh who are the other top Norwegian

players to look out for because you've mentioned quite a few of

the Norwegian squad do play in the Premier League but if you

look at their squad you also have Norwegians who play for

Wolverhampton Wanderers who are now in the championship derby

county Viking in Norway um a few in playing in it in in in Italy

so who else should should um if I'm Thomas Tuchel and you want

to give me the inside scoop tell me who I should else I should be

looking out for uh well um good question well everybody knows

Holland everybody knows Erdigo uh but Antonio Nusa who plays

for uh uh in Germany he can destroy a fullback uh one

against one that's one guy to be uh looking out for he plays on

the left wing um so he could he could he noosa could have a

field day based on the fact that um england looked like they

might be playing with like the a sixth or seventh choice right

back right and then and then as you've seen um his backup has

been Andreas Shelrup who plays for Benfica he's had a

phenomenal season for Benfica and uh Mourinho has been uh

praising him uh promising him a big future and uh they have been

uh swapping the the time between he had two two uh assists for

Holland against Brazil so Andreas Shelrup if he plays from

the start or if he plays from at the end of the game just look

out for him um suel Bakken who is the coach has been very very

um uh persistent of uh emphasizing that it's not only

important who starts the game it's always uh it's often who

ends the game who is um uh who's uh who wins the game at the end

so um and and it seems like the team has sort of adapted to that

and uh I respect that so being as uh um not in the starting

lineup is not really a defeat for any other the guys which is

uh it's extraordinary for for for the team to be accepting

that uh because everybody wants to play uh but oscar bobb from

uh fulham creates chaos with his uh technique and uh smart passes

sanderberge also plays for fulum so plays for fully quietly

quietly runs the game just just by being his present there

distributing the ball um but um uh I think uh if I should say

one uh it's uh Andreas Sheldrup from Benfica uh remember that

name uh he's the biggest young young talent from Norwegian

football has produced in in years and um England has spent

all week now since the Mexico game planning for Holland and uh

Sheldrup might end up being the player who's who who ruins their

evening.

SPEAKER_01: Interesting it'll be interesting to see if uh

Mourinho was as big on him as you said he was whether or not

he might end up at Real Madrid in the next year or two.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah who knows anyway Oyvan I want to be

respectful of your time couple more questions um do you think

the Norwegian squad look like it actually believes it can win uh

a semi-final spot in Atlanta next Wednesday or is there a

sort of ceiling on the belief that the team has got so far and

done this for the first time that a defeat on Saturday

tomorrow would be acceptable well um I think the biggest um I

think the biggest threat to England is not Holland and it is

is not Erdogan the biggest threat for to England is England

uh just think about it it's the birthplay players of football

the inventors of the game you've gotten uh ten times the

population of Norway um your clubs in Premier League spends

billions and uh the media has been talking about football

coming home for 30 years even longer so um imagine uh England

losing a World Cup quarter final to little Norway five million

people uh we we don't even play football in the winter in Norway

uh to to uh to be honest uh so that's the pressure Norway we

walk onto the pitch completely free completely ready we've

already won this World Cup England haven't and um I think

that's uh the main threat for for England is the is the um is

uh that this um uh in Norway a win here we we were talking it

for 50 years uh if England lose tonight uh they've done or if

England wins tonight it's they've done exactly what people

expected uh so that's the difference England are playing

not to fail Norway is playing to make history and um I believe

that history has a funny habit of ignoring the favourites

because England are the favorites yeah there's

definitely an expectation that they will win but uh you know

historically uh England have have not done have struggled let

me put it like that in big tournaments I think back to when

they played Sweden in Russia in 2018 with they struggled they

labored to a uh 2-0 victory uh before they went to play Croatia

in the semi-final and I I'm not comparing Sweden to Norway

because I think this Norwegian time team is completely

different much better but it over the years there's always

been a sort of mentality with the English oh it's just little

Sweden oh it's just little Norway oh it's just little

Finland and the reality is they have they do have to turn up and

um yeah and execute on the plan.

SPEAKER_01: So I don't think it's going to be as simple as

most people from England do.

I wish you hadn't brought up the old it's coming home because

that's I hate I absolutely detest it when people say that.

And and I also didn't realize how eloquent you are you you

haven't lost a touch of your eloquency with your in the way

you summed up that question was incredible better than I could

do and English is my first language.

SPEAKER_00: Well that's uh you're you're much a big bigger

talker than you are with your feet uh on the football pitch

tech and so thank you very much for that uh that uh that but you

do by the way do you want a little uh fun fact and little

statistics that's uh that's that'll be the highlight of my

day oven okay thank you uh here it is uh listeners since

nineteen the world cup in nineteen thirty eight before the

world war one there two every team that has knocked out Brazil

out of the world cup has finished top three meaning

semi-final every single time that's 20 world cups in a row so

according to theory uh history uh england is in serious trouble

okay well that would that one's that that interesting fact that

no one has ever thought about will end on on saturday night

and uh when norway are flying back to uh to Oslo uh that flat

that that fact will just go down into the annals of history so a

good good really good prediction really good fact though last

thing oisman um please give me uh a score prediction and if if

you think there's any going to be any sort of critical crucial

moments in the game that if you pulled out your crystal ball uh

they're gonna dictate which team wins and how it goes okay well

anyway my my um my head uh says uh that it will be an incredibly

tight game uh i think uh also uh my heart says uh norway will win

so i'm going with uh both know that norway wins two to one uh i

think uh to be a little tabloid i think holland scores cane

answers then erdigo produces one of his ridiculous passes that

only he can see and holland feeling it finishes the job and

Norway moves to the semi-final for the first time in history

well I tell you what on our production team with um World

Cup football etc you're gonna have a new follower in Paul

Smith Trotsky PST he loves Norway he can't wait for England

to get beaten and you've got a new fan out there uh Oyvan so as

I said at the beginning may the best team win come on England

and thanks Emilian for your time today well thank you very much

Declan it's been a pleasure and uh may the best team winning