Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard struck the equaliser for Norway on Sunday as they drew 1-1 in their final World Cup warm-up fixture against Morocco in the United States
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has set the record straight on his knee injury hell, which he now hopes is finally behind him ahead of the World Cup.
The 27-year-old battled pain during the final three months of the season after initially picking up the problem in the Gunners’ 1-1 draw at Brentford in February.
Odegaard admitted he is finally working his way back to 100 per cent fitness, telling TV2 after netting against the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists: “It felt good. I’ve been struggling with my knee for a while.
“I feel like it’s starting to ease now and I feel like it’s been good for a while. My physical shape is good. It was hot out here, but I felt like I was getting better outside.”
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The attacking midfielder started for Arsenal in their Champions League final defeat to PSG in Budapest. Now his full focus is firmly on Norway ahead of their first World Cup campaign since 1998.
They will square off against Iraq, Senegal and France in Group I and Odegaard heads into next week’s opener against Iraq in scoring form after bagging his fifth international goal.
He celebrated his strike against Morocco on Sunday by holding up four fingers to manager Stale Solbakken, who scored nine international goals for Norway during his playing days.
Odegaard is now on five and is hunting down Solbakken, who has urged his captain to score more goals.
The Arsenal man explained: “Now there are only four left. We are getting closer!”
Plenty has been made of the pitches in the United States and Odegaard admitted the bounce of the ball is something he needs to get used to.
He added: “The one I gave away was ugly, luckily I got it fixed again. It was a bit loose, and I was a bit unfamiliar with the bounce on the field and such. Maybe I can blame it a bit, but I think we worked our way into the game and got better as we went along. We could have won in the end.”
Norway and their opponents Morocco are both being touted as dark-horses at this summer’s World Cup.
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