him the last time we saw Norway at a European Championship they dragged off a field in the small Dutch town of Deventer, at the mercy of a disastrous early exit from a 1-0 defeat to Denmark wrapping up a grueling group stage campaign in which they failed to score, let alone muster a point. .
From the time the draw for this summer’s edition took place it seemed unlikely that they would face a similar problem and so it turned out, after 12 Northern Ireland unanswered in two games in qualifiers, they hammered the big tournament debutants 4-1 to give their campaign a winning start.
The five years since Euro 2017 have been turbulent for Norwegian football, mostly due to superstar’s self-imposed exile Ada Hegerberg, which started months after their group stage debacle and didn’t end until April. With Hegerberg back, Martin Sjorgen’s team arrives in England in that rather amusing, but always occupied position of just about everyone’s dark horses and therefore barely deserved the tag.
Context is necessary; Northern Ireland is the lowest ranked team in this tournament, below Chinese Taipei and Vietnam, and just above Myanmar and Papua New Guinea. Many of their squad still play part-time and Julie Nelson’s goal shortly after the break marked a truly historic moment, a first at a major tournament for a country whose senior women’s team was actually disbanded just 20 years ago.
But for all the tougher tests ahead, namely against England next Monday at Amex Stadium, it was an impressive start from a Norwegian side that showed none of the opening night jitters that threatened the host’s feast against Austria at Old Trafford on Wednesday. to spoil.
Hegerberg’s return to the big tournament led the pre-match billing but she was largely outdone by the brilliant Caroline Graham Hansen, the gap between the sides was never more apparent than when the Barcelona forward was in full flight, while Arsenal forward Frida Maanum dominated from the base of midfield and also came on the scoresheet.
Norway was helped in the first half by Northern Ireland, who preferred to shoot themselves in the foot, Chloe McCarron took possession of the ball on the edge of her own penalty area, allowing Hegerberg and Maanum to combine a second within three minutes of Julie Blakstad’s opener , for Nadene Caldwell’s unnecessary handball enabled Graham Hansen to make three from the spot before half time.
It could have been uglier too had it not been for beautiful final ditches on Hegerberg from first Sarah McFadden and then Abbie Magee, but Nelson’s header in the midst of a revival immediately after the break put a strong traveling contingent on the moment she came for, crawling across the line before Guro Pettersen could claw it back.
Norway also provided considerable support and quickly recovered the three-goal cushion as Chelsea’s Guro Reiten scored a 54-minute free kick. Jacqueline Burns, otherwise solid in the Northern Ireland goal, may have been guilty but seemed understandably concerned at the prospect of an attack from Graham Hansen into the opposite corner and remained misguided. She made up for it with a clever save to keep out substitute Karina Saevik after Hegerberg was again denied, this time by the offside flag.
After the record-breaking crowd at Old Trafford for the England opener, a turnout of 9,146 here was a bit disappointing, with nearly 11,000 tickets sold for a match that drew both a home country and two of the best players in the world. Still, the atmosphere generated in a ground of less than a third is a good thing, as countless matches in the group stage will inevitably be played in similar conditions.
Tickets for Norway’s third, against Austria on the Amex, remain available. They are definitely worth a look on this form.