– Ståle follows him very, very closely – VG
DRAMMEN (VG) He was in Norway’s national team heat even before he got a Norwegian passport and citizenship. It helped Noah Holm (20) become even more confident in the choice of nation — which he guarantees will also provide for the A national team.
In what the U21 national team’s power forward describes as his hometown – Drammen – he can play his 44th age-specific international match for Norway in the VG + Sport broadcast The European Championship qualifier against Estonia on Tuesday night.
Noah Holm has probably blacked out as many times, which is why he chose Norway’s national team at the expense of Denmark. Both parents are Danish, and dad and former elite series profile David Nielsen played 47 U-national matches and scored a whopping 33 goals for Denmark.
But junior has always felt most Norwegian, and he is also a 2001 model. The vintage was the very first litter that has been through the entire NFF concept «the shooting school». The Rosenborg striker, who grew up in Bergen and Drammen, has thus dressed in red, white and blue since he was twelve. Even though he was by definition not Norwegian at the time.
– Of course it had something to say for the election. I remember all the collections I was with without a passport. For the first national team selection for a tournament in Italy, we actually tried to get an emergency pass. I did not get it, even though we tried everything we could. But I was at the next meeting, remembers Noah Jean Holm.
-Does your choice mean that it also applies at the A national team level?
– It does, as things look now. I have made a choice, I relate to it and I am very happy about it. I feel I am being bet a lot on by the NFF, says Holm, who has a new and round news with himself before he could go on the U21 national team in 2020.
WATCH LIVE on VG + SPORT TUESDAY:
18.00: Norway – Estonia, EC qualification U21 – the broadcast starts 17.30 with the experts Kjetil Rekdal and Joacim Jonsson in the studio directly from Marienlyst
The talent manager of the Danish Football Association (DBU) described it as “unfortunate” in 2018, when Noah Holm played in one of his U-championships for Norway, that the neighboring country had hijacked the current AGF Aarhus coach’s son.
– It was a lot of thinking through the corona. Norway is correct for me as a player, and choices I have made all by myself, and I have had so many years in Norway. I have pretty much all my friends here, the player maintains.
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-But the way to play striker for Norway’s A national team right now may seem longer than it is for Denmark?
– In Denmark they play with one, Norway plays with two. That’s not what I’m thinking now. Denmark also has many young players who come forward. I have just followed my heart and decided on Norway now.
– Denmark is one of the world’s best national teams now – Norway can have something exciting going on. Has it had an impact on your decision that you are the best in maybe five-six-seven years?
– Of course. As I have said: There are so many exciting young Norwegian players, including some superstars who have made it through. Norwegian football is on its way up and I want to be a part of it, says Noah Holm.
U21 national team coach Leif Gunnar Smerud is confident that Noah Jean Holm will remain Norwegian as a senior as well.
– He says himself that he wants to play for Norway and is a good player that we bet on. I am sure that Ståle follows him very, very closely in terms of the A-team, says Smerud-without wanting to answer how the dialogue with the A-national team manager was around the U21 trio Holm, Erik Botheim and Jørgen Strand Larsen were when Solbakken’s three regular strikers reported maturity for the matches against Turkey and Montenegro.
Dad David Nielsen prioritizes that it is Noah, and only him, who has made the decision about the national team.
– I do not have much significance for him one way or another. It was very simple. He is an up-and-coming boy who makes his own choices. My special job as a dad is to make sure my kids make their own choices and navigate life themselves. Noah does it in a very good way, Nielsen says to VG.
The son says that it was the father who held the dialogue with Denmark. Nielsen does not directly answer whether the Danish association has approached again recently, considering that Hom was “promoted” to U21 last year and in theory can still choose Denmark’s A national team.
– I think all consumers can find out which players may be available. I have a good relationship with DBU which I want to take care of in the best possible way, but it has always been up to Noah, and that is what it is about, says Nielsen.
PS! Kristoffer Askildsen has left the U21 camp with illness and is out of action for Tuesday’s home game against Estonia. RBK winger Emil Konradsen Ceïde scored a beautiful goal as a substitute against Croatia and can be rewarded with a starting place on Tuesday night.
WATCH LIVE on VG + SPORT TUESDAY:
Match start 18.00: Norway – Estonia, EC qualification U21 – the broadcast starts 17.30 with the experts Kjetil Rekdal and Joacim Jonsson in the studio directly from Marienlyst
VG + Sport will also broadcast the next round of European Championship qualifiers when Norway meets Finland (at home, 12 November) and Azerbaijan (away, 16 November). See everything that broadcasts on VG + Sport ahead of her!