Martin Odegaard suffered an injury scare last night playing for Norway against Gibraltar but the midfielder should recover in time for Saturday’s clash with Turkey.
The midfielder, newly appointed captain of his country, turned his ankle on the artificial turf in the first half and had to be substituted at the break.
There were initially concerns that the 22-year-old had suffered a serious injury, however, coach Stale Solbakken allayed fears in his post-game press conference.
“I have a big hope that Martin will be fit for the game against Turkey on Saturday. Not a serious injury,” he said.
Prior to the World Cup qualifier, Odegaard had led his teammates in a protest against the human rights record of hosts Qatar.
A debate has been raging in Norway about whether the country should boycott the competition in light of evidence that more than 6,500 migrant workers have died in the past decade as part of the preparations.
Odegaard and his teammates sported t-shirts during the pre-game warm-up and during the national anthems that said “Human Rights On and off the pitch.”
“I have the impression that a lot of (players) are interested in this, care about it and want to do something to try and contribute in a good way,” said Odegaard.
Speaking to Norway’s TV2, Solbakken, who wore a similar shirt,” added: “This is a little bit what we have been talking about, to put the focus on some of that that has been a discussion off the pitch. The boys were keen to do this and I am here as an example of that.”
The Norwegian Football Federation is due to meet next year to discuss a boycott after top clubs in the country, including Rosenburg and Tromso, said they’d back such a move.
On a separate note, China’s treatment of Muslim Uighurs – an issue raised by a former Arsenal MO10 – continues to make headlines.
Last week, the EU, UK, US and Canada imposed sanctions on China for their human rights abuses against the mostly Muslim Uighur minority group.
The decision has sparked a backlash against Western brands who’ve previously released statements expressing concerns about reports of forced labour, including Nike and Swedish fashion brand H&M, for whom Hector Bellerin recently designed a collection.
Let’s hope he’s not 100% for Saturday so is rested. Nketia is under 21 captain. Let’s hope he has a few good games and we may be able to pinch £20 million for him in summer. Need to accumulate money 💰 nketia Bellerin maitland Willock torriera guendozi Xhaka could bring a nice few quid.
Why would Arsenal sell Xhaka who kid now a key player and has formed a good partnership with Partey?
Is not kid
Xhaka has a key role in our side but that doesn’t mean he’s a key player in terms of ability
There are players available who could perform his role much better than he can. He’s not awful but is basically an appropriate level for a team in upper-mid table, so when he’s given such a key role he’s a bit of a limiting factor. Same with Luiz
Sir, any player that plays a key role in a team is a key player… no point of arguing semantics..
Skillful or Not, as at today, Xhaka is a key player in Arsenal.
Xhaka is this team’s ceiling.
Sure, he’s “fine” and his delivery is very good – but he’s is also a limited player as well as a ticking time bomb.
The rest of the team has to be set up to account for his weaknesses.
We’re not getting where we want to be unless we replace him with someone better.
Xhaka is not the answer next to Partey. He isn’t good enough, makes way too many costly errors and Arsenal should be looking to improve in that position.
Since his suspension he has hardly made any errors and has also one of the best forward passing ranges of any player
Hope he’s alright. 6,500 migrant worker deaths? For a football tournament? I’m disgusted.
FIFA orders everyone to close their eyes, pinch their nose and play and no country’s football association has the guts to stand up to it. Everyone obeys like a good little servant.
I decided around 2 years ago I wouldn’t watch it, sad to see workers are still dying out there and fifa do fuck all about it. Corrupt as anything it almost makes me want to boycott football all together
I’m with you on this. This is football played in a morgue. It’s vile.
I won’t be watching.
Just like how we keep doing trade with China despite their massive human rights abuses.
Money talks, sadly.
Greed is good
The profit motive will save us!
It really does talk mate and almost all western politicians are all ears.
Organisations like FIFA, the IOC and FIA always talk about not getting involved in politics when there is a storm around some issue in relation to one of their host venues, when they should actually be proactive and use their influence to make change happen. If they were to set a minimum set of qualifying requirements in order for a country’s bid to be considered (covering things like health and safety and human rights) it would mean countries having to get their houses in order before making their bids. That would mean not only making change in the winning bidder’s… Read more »
Having said that, I’d like to see Arsenal have a similar process for signing sponsorship agreements.
That’s the number for the country as a whole, not just for those involved in world cup related stuff. Not saying it isn’t a terrible scandal – it absolutely is, and Qatar never should have been awarded the tournament, because this isn’t a remotely new problem – but it’s best not to use misleading statistics.
I will see if Norway boycotts the Winter Olympics in China, where they actually expect to win something.
What I’ve seen from the Turkish league doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence where injuries are concerned. Not sure if their national team play like that but every Turkish team I’ve seen were like Stoke turned up to 11.
Please let him come through this one unscathed! Haaland too.
Gibraltar!
Codology
I hope Ozil is justify now by the EU sanction of China he deserved a medal. And arsenal need to apologize to Ozil
Why do they need to apologise?
Lets move on from ozil now,it’s done.
I love wenger too, but the club completely disassociating itself from Ozil’s comments was a moment of shame for me as an Arsenal fan.
Political statements have been made by Hector and others, but Arsenal never found the need to distance itself from those.
Give it a rest
I think it’s important to remember that the UAE – a nation ruled by a regime(s) we as a club effectively endorse – uses mass modern slavery, as well as multiple other human rights abuses The only thing we can really do about it is to not buy shirts or tickets and make it clear that is the reason, but good luck trying to organise a mass movement without it being twisted into something toxic and counterproductive. It’s shit that we as fans have to make a choice between stopping our support of something we love and suppressing our gag… Read more »
It’s interesting that the Norwegian players have left it this late to protest. I remember at the time Qatar was awarded the World Cup I was laughing and crying at the same time. It was obvious back then that a country with its human rights record was thoroughly unworthy of hosting the greatest soccer tournament. It was also far too small. But they got it: I wonder how? The decent football countries around the world should have immediately refused to play at the 2022 World Cup: that would have stopped it there and then. But they didn’t. I never planned… Read more »
Great. I honestly don’t understand why any player who isn’t a complete sociopath is willing to participate in the qualifiers at all. No players – no tournament – FIFA would have to get their act together.
Odegaard is showing he is everything anybody could have hoped for both as a player and as a person.
It breaks my heart, because there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell Real is dumb enough to sell him for a price we can afford.
Farcical that pros have to play on these surfaces
Yeah the rubber chips and unbreakable plastic grass blades in modern 3g pitches create for too much traction between the foot/the ball and the turf.
So easy to get caught and twist ankles and knees on. Not to mention balls that basically don’t bounce anywhere when they land. And burns from sliding melding with the little rubber chips. I don’t know if that’s exactly what they played on, but I hate them anyway
Odegaard’s polical stance is refreshing and commendable, however I wonder if Arsenal will find it necessary to distance itself from his comments like they did with Ozil’s about the Uighurs.
Shall I be very cynical? Criticism of Qatar is fine with Arsenal, because our stadium and shirt sponsor, the UAE, is a bitter rival of Qatar. The UAE, of course, has a human rights record no better than Qatar’s, and has been deeply involved in the blockade of Yemen that is leading to an immense famine in that country.
Sadly, I think you’re spot on.
Arsenal should distance itself from his comments. We have a precedent