Norway will provide the opposition in what is likely to be the Republic of Ireland's final warm-up game before the start of the qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup when the teams meet in Oslo on August 20th.
The fixture was announced yesterday by the Football Association of Ireland, adding to the already confirmed friendlies against Brazil (February 6th) and Serbia (May 24th) at Croke Park.
Ireland last played Norway in April 2003 when a Damien Duff goal decided the game at Lansdowne Road.
Ireland's schedule for their qualifying group, in which they were drawn with Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia and Montenegro, will be decided at a fixtures meeting in Sofia on Tuesday week.
Whether or not a manager will have been appointed by then remains to be seen, but the obligatory "sources close to" have been widely quoted this week confirming Kenny Dalglish's interest in the position.
Two leading bookmakers claimed earlier in the week that a "significant" amount of money had been bet on Dalglish succeeding Steve Staunton (who, ironically, he signed from Dundalk for Liverpool back in 1986), but similar claims were also made before about both Terry Venables and David O'Leary.
Meanwhile, having already turned down a bid from Sunderland for Republic of Ireland midfielder Stephen Hunt Reading manager Steve Coppell yesterday dismissed speculation linking Kevin Doyle with a move to Chelsea.
"I've not actually seen that one," he said, "but I presume it was next to a story about the Martians landing."
