Hareide ready for rough ride

Watch Scotland v Norway live on Sky Sports 1 this Saturday

By Chris Burton   Last updated: 6th October 2008

Hareide ready for rough ride

Hareide: Chasing World Cup spot

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Norway boss Age Hareide expects Scotland to provide a tough test for his side on Saturday.

With 2010 World Cup qualifying action set to resume this weekend, Norway travel to Hampden Park for a crunch clash between two sides that have made stuttering starts on the road to South Africa.

Scotland took three points from their first two fixtures, while Norway were held by Iceland in their opening contest.

Both sides will be desperate to get back to winning ways on Saturday, but Hareide believes the battle for qualification from Group Nine will go down to the wire.

The Norwegian coach told the Daily Record: "No matter what happens on Saturday it won't decide a thing.

"You can't say if one of us loses then we would have no chance of being second. Of course I want to win and so do Scotland but you can't predict what will happen after just three games.

Favourites

"I watched Holland in Macedonia and while they will be favourites it would be wrong to say they could not be beaten. Scotland and my side can do that.

"The group won't be decided until the last matches.

"So I don't know why anyone could say Saturday might finish one of us off.

"Holland have weaknesses in their team. They will not win every one of their matches.

"We did not get a good start by drawing at home and the players now know that wasn't acceptable. We will make changes for Saturday and will have a new attitude."