Norway, in Scotland's group in France, swamped Saudi Arabia 6-0 in a World Cup warm-up match yesterday marred by the sending-off of two Saudi players.
''I'm happy but the game was ruined by the red cards,'' Norwegian coach Egil Olsen said after his side's last game before the World Cup had extended their unbeaten run to 14 games.
Fellow World Cup finalists Saudi Arabia were all but beaten after the sending-off of Saudi goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Daye and Mohammed Al-Khlaiwi in the first half, both for fouls on Norway's Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
He must now have bolstered his chances of inclusion in Norway's 22-man squad with two goals. Olsen has said that the striker is not certain to go after a rocky season at Manchester United.
Saudi Arabia protested bitterly to Danish referee Knud Erik Fisker over the sending off of keeper Al-Daye in a nineteenth minute goalmouth scramble that also earned Norway a penalty. Vidar Riseth slotted the spot kick.
Saudi Arabia gave up top striker Sami Al-Jaber, who played superbly in the 0-0 draw against England at Wembley to allow substitute keeper Al-Sadiq to come on.
Solskjaer scored his first on the half hour when he intercepted a pass from Erik Mykland on his chest inside the area and knocked the ball into the net.
He added his second 10 minutes later with an easy header. Norway flagged after the break but the visitors failed to muster any real chances.
Norway finished with a vengeancewhen they scored three times in the last 10 minutes to complete the Saudis night of misery. Egil Ostenstad of Southampton made it 4-0 four minutes after coming on as substitute, Tore Andre Flo of Chelsea, scored with a leaping header from a pass from Ostenstad five minutes from the end of the game and Roar Strand headed the sixth soon after.
Saudi Arabia coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who won the World Cup with Brazil, said that he would report back to Brazilian coach Mario Zagallo about Norway, who are developing into a real World Cup threat. The Scots no doubt also will hear about the match.
qDutch coach Guus Hiddink acknowledged last night that his team's attack is firing blanks after a 0-0 draw with Cameroon. ''What is important in a tournament is that you don't give away any goals, but of the eight or nine chances we couldn't even put one away.''
q Austria beat fellow World Cup qualifiers Tunisia 2-1 in Vienna to restore their confidence after two previous defeats.
Although the Austrians played better than in the earlier friendlies which they lost 3-2 to Hungary and 3-0 to the United States, their performance was not stunning.
With the exception of a good 20-minute spell at the start, when Harald Cerny and Arnold Wetl scored, the Austrians were generally sluggish.
q Germany, many people's tip to win the World Cup, disappointed their coach, Berti Vogts, last night when the European champions were held to a 0-0 draw by Finland in Helsinki.
''I cannot be pleased with this performance,'' said Vogts. ''The midfield didn't work.''
Veteran midfield player Lothar Matthaeus, playing his first match for Germany in three-and-a-half years, failed to sparkle and Finland took the initiative and created the better chances.
qWORLD Cup hopefuls South Korea overturned a two-goal deficit at half-time to earn a 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic.
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