As the first snow of the season falls in Oslo, the clean-up operation at Norway's home stadium is in full swing – tractors on the pitch, Norwegian Football Federation staff getting stuck in with their shovels.
This has been a problematic pitch in the past, with even the great Erling Haaland questioning its condition, external back in March, before it was fixed during the summer.
By their recent, historic high standards, Norway need something of a repair job themselves.
Having gone through 2025 unbeaten and then soared to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, Norway have lost three games in a row for the first time in a decade.
Granted, two of those were against Portugal, whereas their losing run in 2016 included defeats in Azerbaijan and Belarus.
But this is Norway's golden generation. With Haaland, Martin Odegaard and a glut of other elite talents at their disposal, expectations are greater than ever.
Thumping Italy twice on their way to World Cup qualification was one thing – their first major tournament since 1998 – but beating Brazil in their last-16 tie in New Jersey underlined their credentials as an emerging force in international football.
So, when this Nations League campaign came around, Stale Solbakken's men were expected to be jostling with Portugal for top spot.
