The Palace forward won his 29th cap – and made his first ever appearance, playing the full 90 minutes – in Norway’s defeat to France on Friday evening, with both teams having secured their qualification from Group I regardless.
Strand Larsen came up against Palace teammates, and fellow World Cup debutants, Maxence Lacroix and Jean-Philippe Mateta during the course of the 90 minutes and – despite missing a penalty in the defeat – took the positives from a much-changed Norway team’s performance.
“It's unbelievable to be in the national team now,” Strand Larsen smiled, speaking to SportyTV. “The competition to get in the starting eleven is unreal.
“Obviously, we have the main man [Erling Haaland] up front, which keeps me on the bench! And luckily so, we have so many good players.
“Today we showed our quality. To change ten players from the last game to now, and still be in the game, and almost give France a [tough run]… if we scored the penalty or another chance, it’d have been 3-2 and it would be a tough game.
“I think we should be proud of ourselves and just learn from it. But to be a part of this generation is unbelievable. We have so many good footballers and we can learn from each other every day.”
