Norway’s new change kit for the 1994 World Cup was notable in that it featured adidas striping in three different colours – navy on the shirt, white on the shorts and red on the socks, while it could be said that the diamonds down the right of the shirt comprised another set of stripes.
It was this kit that Egil Olsen’s side wore in their opening game against Mexico, when Kjetil Rekdal scored the only goal.
Next up was a clash with Italy, who had lost 1-0 to Ireland. As the away team once more, Norway again switched to white shorts.
However, as Fifa didn’t want blue-white-blue v white-navy-white (and without yet having got to the stage where they demanded both sides change shorts), the best solution was felt to be both teams in white shorts.
Rather than merely wearing their home set – which might have been expected, but wouldn’t have made for a great aesthetic – Norway used a bespoke alternative set, with the red stripes matching the socks rather than the shirt.
Despite Italy goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca being sent off, Norway lost 1-0 and then played out a scoreless draw with the Republic of Ireland in the final group game.
It meant that all four countries finished on four points with one win, one draw and one loss each, all with goal differences of zero, so goals scored was used to determine the placings.
Mexico, with three goals scored and conceded, were top; Ireland and Italy had each scored twice but Ireland’s win over Arrigo Sacchi’s side gave them second; and, unfortunately for Norway, two goals scored saw them eliminated.
