Kazakhstan vs Norway Prediction: Haaland to help himself to another opener in Almaty

Kazakhstan and Norway meet for the very first time in senior men's football on Friday (15:00) as they clash in Group 3, League B of the Uefa Nations League at the Almaty Central Stadium. Neither side qualified for the European Championship in Germany during the summer, so both will be looking to hit the ground running this week.

Read on for my Kazakhstan vs Norway prediction and all the latest team news and match odds ahead of this clash in Kazakhstan's former capital city.

Team News

Kazakhstan head coach Stanislav Cherchesov's latest 26-man squad features 21 players plying their trade in their homeland, with only Nuraly Alip (Zenit St Petersburg), Alexsandr Zuyev (Arsenal Tula), Bakhtiyar Zaynutdinov (Besiktas), Ramazan Orazov (Silkeborg), and Abat Aymbetov (Adana Demirspor) playing their football outside of Kazakhstan, the first two in neighbouring Russia.

Zaynutdinov is Kazakhstan's all-time top scorer with 14 goals, while Aymbetov has a decent record of nine strikes in 37 caps.

Bauyrzhan Islamkhan, capped 50 times by his country, is the biggest omission from the squad as he recovers from injury.

Football Odds

Norway's star names, Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard, Alexander Sorloth and Sander Berge, all make Stale Solbakken's squad for their September internationals, the latter two having made summer moves to Atletico Madrid and Fulham respectively. Jorgen Strand Larsen, who joined Wolverhampton Wanderers ahead of the 2023/24 campaign and is already off the mark in the Premier League, provides competition up top to Haaland and Sorloth.

Defenders Kristoffer Ajer and Birger Meling are notable injury absentees.

Kazakhstan vs Norway Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Kazakhstan vs Norway page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

Kazakhstan are 15/2, or an 11.8% chance, to pull themselves out of a four-match losing run and beat Norway on Friday. The visitors are 2/5 to get their UNL campaign off to a perfect start, giving them an implied win probability of 71.4%.

The draw is priced at 18/5, both teams to score at 1/1, and over 2.5 total goals at 4/6.

Haaland is favourite to score anytime at 4/6, followed by strike partner Sorloth (6/4). Aymbetov (18/5) is considered most likely to score anytime for Kazakhstan.

Both Teams to Score - Yes @ 1/1

Starting with a 5-0 play-off defeat to Greece in a Euro 2024 play-off in March, Kazakhstan have lost their last four matches, conceding 12 times in total. They did score in the last three, however, losing 2-1 to Luxembourg and Armenia before suffering a 3-2 defeat to Azerbaijan.

Going back to a 3-1 reverse to Denmark in Copenhagen last October, both teams have scored in seven of Kazakhstan's last nine games, which should instill enough confidence in the Hawks that they can breach the Norwegian backline, which will be missing Ajer, on Friday.

Of course, Norway will expect to net at least a couple of times themselves in Almaty. Their hosts have shipped at least two goals in each of their last four outings and have kept just one clean sheet - in a March 2-0 friendly victory over international minnows Turkmenistan - across their last nine matches.

The Lions have scored in 12 of their last 13 internationals, a run that stretches back to March 28, 2023, and both teams have found the net in eight of them, including four of their last five.

It would be a huge shock if Haaland and co weren't able to plot a way past the Hawks' defence at least once on Friday.

First Scorer - Erling Haaland @ 9/4

Talking of Haaland, why not back the main man to grab the first goal of the game in Almaty? His credentials are certified.

The 24-year-old already has 33 international goals to his name in just 31 caps and he needs only two more to draw level with Jorgen Juve as his nation's all-time leading goalscorer.

Haaland scored in both of Norway's friendlies in June, firing a hat-trick in a 3-0 victory over Kosovo before netting a consolation in a 3-1 defeat to Denmark three days later.

The Manchester City hotshot has started the season on fire for the Citizens, scoring once in a 2-0 opening-weekend defeat of Chelsea before hat-tricks in a 4-1 thrashing of Ipswich Town and 3-1 win against West Ham United. He scored the first goal of the game against Chelsea and West Ham and is favourite for a reason to pop up first on Friday against Kazakhstan.

Odds of 9/4 might not be enticing for many players, but given it's Haaland, they probably offer fair value.

Offers

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