SCOTLAND: Despite their height and muscle, Scotland should be able to put Norway to the sword, writes Michael Grant

IT is quite a trip from East Anglia to South Africa and it has taken a quarter of a century for George Burley and Age Hareide to approach the end of it. At Hampden on Saturday the managers of Scotland and Norway will battle for three precious points on the way to the next World Cup finals. During a quiet minute in the day, if there is one, these two agreeable gentlemen will share a moment together. Hareide might tease Burley again about when they were players and he was in a winning Norwich team against Ipswich. "He keeps telling me they beat us once," said Burley. "I can't remember Norwich beating Ipswich too often but I'll believe him if he's telling me. He's a smashing lad."

Scotland will have to hope Hareide's management is less reliable than his memory. Norwich did indeed beat Ipswich when they were up against each other from 1982 to 1984, not once but three times. Who cares about that? Not Burley and not the 52,000 supporters who will cram into Hampden next weekend. But the old place will be in uproar if Hareide comes out on top again. When Scotland were beaten in their opening qualifying tie in Macedonia last month all was not lost, but their margin for error certainly was. If they are to get out of Group Nine they will need a high yield of points from their four home games, and the Norwegians are the first who will try to stop them.

The Euro 2008 campaign was the template. The Faroe Islands, Georgia, Lithuania, France and Ukraine were all defeated at Hampden before Italy arrived in the final tie and stole away with the decisive win. Hampden victories were the cornerstones of a terrific attempt to qualify which went to the final minutes of the final match. There was no shame in going down to the world champions but Norway are 34 in the current Fifa rankings compared to Scotland at 16, and if points are surrendered to them it will confirm that results are on the slide and the World Cup is a forlorn hope.

It has been a grim decade for both countries. Although Norway were at Euro 2000, neither has made it to a World Cup since France 98. The vintage of Tore Andre Flo and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been replaced by that of Aston Villa's John Carew and John Arne Riise of Roma. One player connects Norway 1998 with their current team. Steffen Iversen - now of Rosenborg but formerly of Tottenham - will play for his country for the 75th time on Saturday.

The personnel may have changed but the modus operandi has not, even if they are not quite so reliant on route one as they were under their wellie-wearing old boss Egil Olsen. Norway are still big, still powerful, still capable of launching an aerial bombardment and menacing teams from free-kicks. Their talisman, Carew, is 6ft 4in and has scored five times in nine appearances for Villa this season. He and Iversen, who missed Rosenborg's midweek Uefa Cup tie through injury but is expected to be available, have 42 international goals and nearly 150 caps between them.

They will test a new Scottish central-defensive partnership. Stephen McManus was sent off in Iceland and his suspension means Gary Caldwell and Davie Weir are likely to play together. As the middle two in a back four they have done so only once, for 45 minutes in a friendly in Austria last year which Scotland won 1-0.

Norway will shell free-kicks and corners at them. "It's not something our players aren't used to," said Burley. "In Scotland and England you are used to it and our defenders are up for that. It's not something to frighten us They have players who want to get crosses into the box and attack the ball into the air. They have quite an offensive line-up, big and powerful. It will be more of a British' style of game than a normal World Cup tie.

"I have seen John Carew a number of times. He's a top-class international player. But he relies on ammunition. We have to work on stopping the supply. As for Iversen, we have to be wary of him but we're not going to man-mark him we will be looking to give them problems rather than worrying about them."

Norway have conceded at least one goal in each of their last seven games, which is encouraging for a Scottish attack probably consisting of Kenny Miller supported by James McFadden. Iceland scored twice from free-kicks in their 2-2 draw in Olso last month - the first a cross into the box for Heidar Helguson to connect with a glancing header, the second a direct shot from Eidur Gudjohnsen. Shaun Maloney and Barry Robson can both threaten from set pieces and Burley must decide the correct balance between a physical presence to contain the Norwegian threat with having enough players who can exploit their defensive vulnerability. Given that he is the same height as Carew it would not be a surprise if Chris Iwelumo, 30 and uncapped, was given part of the match.

"They have conceded more goals than maybe Age Hareide would have hoped for," said Burley. "That is an area where we have to give them problems and hopefully we can. There is no doubt that their strength is going forward. We have other strengths that I feel can cause them problems. We will try to dictate the game with our style of play. Our strengths are getting the ball down, playing through midfield, linking with the strikers. We have players who can take full-backs on. So we will try to impose that on the game."

So far that has resulted in a 1-0 defeat in Macedonia and a jittery but vital recovery to win 2-1 in Iceland. Three points from six means Burley is up against it already and after Saturday there is not another qualifier until Holland away in nearly six months' time. Scotland should manage a narrow win to prolong their hopes and give Burley the longest winter of his life.

Scotland (probable 4-4-1-1): Gordon; Broadfoot, Caldwell, Weir, Naysmith; Brown, Fletcher, Hartley, Robson; McFadden; Miller