OSLO: When the dope testers turned up at Norway's training base ahead of their Nations League opener against Kazakhstan and presented the list of players they wanted to screen, the coaching staff thought they were on the back end of a joke.
"We had to call Anti-doping Norway and ask them: 'Is this a hidden camera or what?'", head coach Stale Solbakken told a press conference on Wednesday.
Solbakken was fine with four of the six names on the list: Erling Haaland, Jorgen Strand Larsen, Antonio Nusa and Oscar Bobb are all part of the set-up, although Bobb is currently out of action with an injury.
It was the other two names that raised eyebrows as Einar Gundersen and Jorgen Juve, fine players though they were, both died several decades ago.
Born in 1896, Gundersen scored 26 goals in 33 internationals and is third in Norway's all-time scoring records. But he died in 1962.
Juve was 10 years younger. He won a bronze medal at the 1936 Olympics – beating Germany on the way in front of Adolf Hitler – and banged in 33 goals in 45 internationals, making him the leading scorer, two ahead of Haaland. Juve died in 1983.
"I started to wonder. These were the names that were read out and they were serious," said a laughing Solbakken.
"They've probably taken the list of top scorers and added a few names."
Anti-doping Norway struggled to explain what might have caused the mix-up.
"It's hard to say what happened, but normally we hit the target better," communications director, Halvor Byfuglien, told the VG newspaper.
"All we can do now is admit we're wrong. We can joke about it in the office today and then review our routines going forward."
Norway face Kazakhstan away on Friday, before hosting Austria three days later. --AFP