Norway coach Stale Solbakken admits he used to be an Anglophile with a love for Kevin Keegan.
Like many Scandinavians, Solbakken grew up watching English football with his favourite player being Keegan, who starred in the top flight for Liverpool and Southampton, either side of a spell in Germany with Hamburg. He later played and managed Newcastle, as well as the Three Lions.
Solbakken, 58, revealed one particular memory of how Keegan broke his heart during the 1982 World Cup.
“My worst World Cup moment involved Kevin Keegan,” he said in remarks reported by Dagbladet. “He was finally going to play his first World Cup because England didn’t qualify in 1974 or 1978. Then he gets a back injury and he’s in a car all over Europe to get his back in order.”
Keegan secretly hired a car and drove from Spain to a specialist he knew in Germany for treatment.
Solbakken continued: “He and Trevor Brooking come on with 20 minutes left against Spain, and he misses a [point-blank] header. I collapsed. It was 0-0. Back then it was England, Germany and Spain in a group of three. England had to win by two, and my dear Kevin missed it…”
Say hello to Kevin, I hope he sees the game – Norway boss Solbakken
Keegan, a two-time European Footballer of the Year, recently revealed he has stage four cancer.
Solbakken said: “You have to say hello to Kevin, he’s sick. So I hope he gets to see the game. I was a real Anglophile at that time.”
Solbakken will put his love of England to one side at the weekend when he leads his Norway side into a World Cup quarter-final meeting with Thomas Tuchel’s men.
Norway secured their place in the last four thanks to a 2-1 win over five-time champions Brazil, Erling Haaland scoring twice late on.
England were also made to work hard, emerging 3-2 winners against Mexico following an emotional night at the Azteca.
