TARIK, who played at Shonan Bellmare until last year, said "football was the key" when he was a boy and moved to Norway (3ページ目)

Both countries with which Tarik has close ties have increased their presence in the world of football in recent years. Morocco became the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, while Norway has produced superstars including Erling Haaland and Martin Ødegaard, who are the ace striker and captain, respectively, of the Premier League's top teams. I asked Tarik, who has 60 caps for the national team, for his opinion on Norway's new generation, which I particularly wanted to hear.

"Frankly, the Norwegian people are surprised by the situation," Tarik replied. "After all, Norway is a cold country with a population of about five million people. Until now, most international athletes have been in winter sports or long-distance runners."

But Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Alfie Haaland (father of Erling) played in the Premier League. Haaland's father even had an altercation with Roy Keane that forced him to retire.

"Yes, that's right. His father saw his son's talent early on and brought him up strictly. So from a young age, Erling was completely focused on himself. He said he does zazen for mental concentration, wears glowing goggles when he sleeps and tapes his mouth shut to ensure he breathes only through his nose. He rarely opens his mouth in the Norwegian media. It's a great shame for fans who are happy to see such a miraculous talent on the rise."

"Ødegaard, on the other hand, is a nice guy with an open personality and is happy to chat with anyone. He was a very precocious gem, making his debut in the professional league and national team at 15. He then took a bit of a detour when he was bought by Real Madrid, but is now Arsenal's captain. It was at Real Sociedad that he was able to reinvent himself and actually got back on track. His path from Madrid, through several clubs and then to Sociedad, where he developed his talent, is similar to that of Takefusa Kubo."

"However, despite having such good players, we once again failed to qualify for the main tournament in the Euro 2024 qualifiers. I hope that we can reverse the bad tradition of missing out on qualification by the narrowest of margins."