Norway unhappy with FIFA decision before World Cup game vs England

Norway were forced to switch their team hotel this week (Reuters)

FIFA

has faced criticism in Norway after their national team was forced to swap hotels just days before their

World Cup

quarter-final against

England

.

The Norwegian national team landed in Miami on Monday afternoon and were given a police escort to the The Dalmar hotel in Fort Lauderdale.

But after spending just one night in their accommodation which was arranged by FIFA, Norway quickly moved three miles away to the Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale.

According to Norwegian broadcaster NRK, several of the rooms that were initially assigned to the players were either smoky, mouldy or poorly cleaned.

Bellingham has stood tall for Thomas Tuchel (Picture: FIFA via Getty)

But while Norway head coach, Stale Solbakken, insisted the rooms were ‘cleared up quickly’, he conceded that the location of the hotel was an issue as it is situated next to a six-lane highway and a large construction site, while a walk to the closest beach was an hour away.

When asked if it was wrong of FIFA to allocate The Dalmar hotel to Norway, TV2’s World Cup analyst, Jesper Mathisen, told Nettavisen: ‘Yes, it is.

Norway’s players spent just one night at The Dalmar hotel (Google)

‘And as Stale Solbakken says, it is certainly possible to survive in that hotel but now they are going to play the most important match in Norwegian football history and then it is completely understandable that they want to stay in the best possible hotel, and that they want to get margins where they can.

‘Then there is a risk of both little sleep and certainly also a risk of infection.

‘They obviously fixed a new hotel quite quickly, and it’s good that there were both available rooms and opportunities to find a better, cleaner and perfectly decent hotel without so much noise.

‘It was good that they were able to do it so early. After all, there are quite a few days until the game. If this had been one day before the game, it could have caused a bit of chaos, but now they don’t seem tired or in a bad mood out on the field, so things seem to be on track.’

Norway’s players moved to Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale, situated next to the beach (Google)

But despite the anger in Norway, the head of the national team’s World Cup delegation, Truls Daehli, praised FIFA for its quick response.

‘There were things where we stayed first that we would have liked to have thought were different,’ Daehli told TV2.

‘We eventually decided to take action, because now we are in week six and will be staying here for a whole week. And the match we are going to play now is the biggest match we have ever played.

‘Now we have managed to avoid bed sores, and we did not want to risk getting any of that during this period. That is why we made a change.

Norway will play England in their World Cup quarter-final in Miami on Saturday (Shutterstock)

‘We have been met with good understanding from FIFA, who have moved their package to the new hotel.

‘They [FIFA] pay for 50 rooms, that they pay for our security and transportation. We have to make a small adjustment, because this hotel costs more. But we are incredibly satisfied with the way things have been responded to here.’

Norway captain

Martin Odegaard

said: ‘That there were some things that could have been better, then we fixed it really just to optimise and prepare ourselves as best as possible for a big match.’

Last week, Argentina’s players were based at The Dalmar before their last-32 game against Cape Verde in Miami but did not register any complaints during their stay.

Norway play England at the Miami Stadium at 10pm BST on Saturday.

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