BLACKBURN Rovers midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen has vowed to prove his critics wrong by leading Norway to a place at next summer's World Cup finals.

The former Tromso star has come under fire for his recent performances for the Norwegian national side, with Rosenborg coach Nils Arne Eggen claiming he and Liverpool's Jon Arne Riise are more interested in promoting themselves off the pitch than doing the business on it.

But now Pedersen is aiming to have the last laugh by leading Norway to victory in their play-off with the Czech Republic, the first leg of which was due to take place in Oslo today.

Referring to the criticism about his form for the national team, Pedersen hit back, saying: "Some people like what you do and some others hate it. It just depends who you speak to.

"But I've been doing well with Blackburn and now I want to perform just as well for Norway in these next two games, which are the biggest of my life."

Norway's form was distinctly hit and miss during qualifying, a fact perhaps best summed up by their home defeat to Scotland.

As a result, they must now attempt to book their ticket to Germany the hard way and Pedersen expects a tough battle against a Czech Republic side who are many peoples' favourites to go through over the two legs.

"We've got two tough games. We're at home in the first leg so if we don't concede any goals and put in a good performance then I think we've got a really good chance of going through," said Pedersen.

"When you get to this stage (in a competition) you know the draw is never going to be easy.

"But the reason we are here is we've been doing well and, hopefully, we can keep that going now."

If Norway were to get through it would rank as one of the finest achievements in Pedersen's career to date.

He has always dreamed of appearing in a World Cup and now he's tantalising close to fulfilling that ambition.

He added: "Every footballer wants to play in a World Cup. If you don't then there's something wrong with you.

"It's the biggest thing you can do in your career and if I got there with Norway it would be the biggest moment in my career by far.

"But we've got two tough games against the Czech Republic first and we can't look beyond those."