The final countdown to UEFA Euro 2024 has officially begun as we approach a string of highly anticipated international friendlies. Some of the nations that are playing this week are heading for the big tournament and others aren’t, but either way, it’s important for all of them to try and build some momentum. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the impending clash between Norway and Kosovo.

They haven’t qualified for the European Championship in over 20 years and they’ve hardly made an impact on the world stage throughout their history. It’s strange, then, that there’s such optimism for this Norway squad right now. They have some world class stars at their disposal and if they can harness that in the correct manner, perhaps they can be a force in years to come.

Following on from a 3rd place finish in qualifying, Norway are left to look back and wonder what could’ve been. They finished behind Spain and Scotland, and when you consider some of the quality they have in their ranks, they’ll be pretty disappointed that they finished six points behind the latter.

Kosovo, just a few short years ago, weren’t making any kind of waves whatsoever on the world stage - because they simply weren’t a part of the dance. In recent times, though, they’ve enjoyed more consistent success, to the point whereby it’s not impossible to see them qualifying for the Euros in the future. There’s still a lot of hard work to be done, but they need to take advantage of their ‘newcomer’ momentum.

If you consider the fact that Kosovo only lost three of their 10 qualifying games, it’s hard to say their campaign was much of a failure. Yes, they did finish down in 5th place, but we certainly think there are things they can build off of as we look ahead to the future.

In a game like this, the whole point is to do everything in your power to make an impact - especially for these two sides. We’re expecting a pretty entertaining clash full of lots of opportunities, and in terms of a prediction, we’re going to shoot for over 2.5 goals scored.