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v. Norway
Fifth-Ranked Norway Down Dominant Football Ferns
by Jeremy Ruane
Norway became the first team to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2008 Olympic Women’s Football Tournament on August 9, but had to work all the way for their 1-0 victory over a Football Ferns combination which dominated their higher-ranked opponents and deserved at least a share of the spoils from this match at the Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium.
A generally sterile first half saw the game’s only goal come in its first attack of note. Solveig Gulbrandsen played flying winger Leni Larsen Kaurin in on the right, and her first time cross found Melissa Wiik darting across Rebecca Smith at the near post.
The striker still had plenty of work to do, but did it superbly, guiding her angled stooping header over Jenny Bindon and just under the crossbar - a classic striker’s goal, and one which temporarily waylaid the Football Ferns.
But they bounced back quickly against opponents ranked fifth in the world, and in the fourteenth minute should have been on level terms. Ria Percival, Amber Hearn and Ali Riley combined on the right, with Katie Hoyle the beneficiary of their interchange.
The midfielder - she had a huge game - floated over a hanging cross for which Kirsty Yallop made a beeline, and from inside the six-yard box she headed over, rather than under, the crossbar.
New Zealand’s tactics were such that Norway could do nothing but play the long ball - coach John Herdman’s homework in this regard was spot-on. But every once in a while, the Norwegians were able to employ this to their advantage.
Such as in the 27th minute, when captain Ane Stangeland Horpestad hoisted the ball forward, and Gulbrandsen flicked the ball on beyond Smith and inside the retreating Marlies Oostdam, into the path of Larsen Kaurin, who is fast emerging as one of the stars of this tournament.
The braided blonde scythed into the penalty area and lashed a shot on the run towards Bindon’s near post. But the ‘keeper was well up to the task, parrying the effort before smothering the ball at Larsen Kaurin’s feet.
Two minutes later, Norwegian ‘keeper Erika Skarboe hoisted the ball long, and Gulbrandsen rose between Smith and Hayley Moorwood in the centre circle to flick the ball through for Larsen Kaurin to rampage forth once more. Abby Erceg was coolness personified in containing the threat she posed this time round.
The Kiws were showing plenty of enterprise when the opportunity presented itself - a delightful back-heeled pass from the ever-enterprising Moorwood to Hearn, for instance, not to mention Emma Kete’s willingness to chase lost causes and Hearn’s late raid down the left, which saw her give Horpestad the runaround, only to run out of room.
But in between times, another opening came to pass for the Football Ferns, just after the half-hour mark. Yallop sent Kete scurrying through, and it needed the combined efforts of Siri Nordby and Marit Fiane Christensen to foil the striker on the edge of Norway’s penalty area.
There was only one team in the contest in the second spell - the Football Ferns were all over Norway like a rash, to the extent that a team ranked fifth in the world rarely enjoyed possession.
Hoyle and Moorwood were absolute dynamos in the middle of the park, with the captain’s showing particular noteworthy, given she went into the match with a yellow card against her name from the opening encounter against Japan.
She was fortunate not to see another one in the nineteenth minute for a lunging tackle on Marie Knutsen, with the referee erring on the kinder side of caution on this occasion, much to Moorwood’s relief.
It was the tireless work of the midfield duo which created the first opening of the second spell, in the 52nd minute. Horpestad’s pass, intended for the well-contained Ingvild Stensland, was woefully wayward, much to Hearn’s delight.
With Riley providing a decoy run out wide, the striker slipped the ball into the penalty area for Kete to latch onto, but the striker was bundled down off the ball in the area by Siri Nordby. A sure-fire penalty, surely, but Argentine referee Estela Alvarez wasn’t having a bar of such claims, and play continued.
So did the Football Ferns’ dominance of same. But despite possession aplenty, they couldn’t penetrate Norway’s rock-solid rearguard, which stood firm against opponents who never allowed their frustration get the better of them.
Occasionally, the Norwegians would create an opening, such as on the hour, when Gulbrandsen got round Smith on the left and fizzed a low cross across the goalmouth, too far ahead of Larsen
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Kaurin to capitalise upon.
Another such raid materialised fifteen minutes from time, this time after an Anna Green corner and resulting cross from Abby Erceg - a towering defensive display - had been cleared to Gulbrandsen. Substitutes Guro Knutsen and Elise Thorsnes were swiftly brought into play, but overplayed their hand and lost the opportunity to make the game safe.
For the most part, Norway were content to contain their fast-maturing opponents, and twice in the final fifteen minutes, such tactics nearly back-fired on them. Moorwood’s high-energy display saw her marauding down the left flank in the 76th minute, from where she checked inside and fired over a cross.
It was cleared to Smith, who, running onto the ball with the goal some thirty-five yards distant, hit a stunning volley which left Skarboe standing as it screamed narrowly past her right-hand post.
Then, in stoppage time, Riley played a short corner to Yallop, whose teasing cross was headed across the face of goal by substitute Rebecca Tegg. It was virtually the last act of the match, with the final whistle seeing many of the Football Ferns slump to the ground, having given their all yet come up short - not for the first time in recent encounters.
Despite the outcome, coach John Herdman was his usual positive self post-match. "For New Zealand now, we have to beat the USA to move through, and we can do it. There’s a genuine belief after this game that this team is getting better and better.
"That was a powerhouse in women’s football that will find themselves pretty happy with the result that they took tonight. We always knew that Norway would be disciplined, and hard to break down, but we didn’t expect that much possession. I think that’s all credit to these young players, and the confidence that they’ve now developed, and will take into the USA match".
Asked about the possible penalty claim early in the second half, Herdman replied, "With that much possession, and that much time in Norway’s half of the pitch, we shouldn’t rely on a referee - we should rely on our own quality to break the Norwegians down.
"That’s our next step. This team’s on a long journey, and that’s going to take some time. But we’ve got to get it right for the USA, and I believe we’re getting close to that big upset - very close.
"I thought the players were outstanding tonight. They’ve really stamped their foot on the world stage in this tournament. We were criticised at last year’s Women’s World Cup for being very negative and defensive, but at these Olympics we’ve shown a new New Zealand".
Kirsty Yallop backed up these thoughts. "The momentum coming into this tournament has been awesome. Each game we’ve played, we’ve taken another step, and we felt that we were ready, when we came into our first game against Japan, to get our win there.
"We were obviously disappointed to come away with just the one point, so we came into today’s game really needing the three points. So yet again we’re really disappointed with ourselves, but we know that we have one more game against the USA which we can definitely take three points from, and that’s what we’ll be looking to do".
Norwegian coach Bjarne Berntsen was "very satisfied with two wins in the first two games, and with our defensive play - there was one great chance for New Zealand in the first half, and some smaller ones in the second spell.
"New Zealand played exactly the way we thought they would play against us - a bit different than usual, especially in the first half, when they played one of the strikers deeper.
"We watched New Zealand very closely before the Olympics as well as in the opening game, and we knew that they would be very tough competition for us. They have a very, very impressive team spirit, too".
That team spirit will be a big factor against the USA, Norway’s first opponents in this group. "In that game", said Berntsen, "we beat the big favourites 2-0, and we had a very tough match today against New Zealand, who are the lowest-ranked team in our group.
"It shows that every opponent is very tough", something the Football Ferns intend to prove to their final group opponents in Shenyang on Tuesday evening.
Football Ferns: Bindon; Percival, Smith, Erceg, Oostdam (Green, 63); Riley, Hoyle, Moorwood, Yallop; Kete (Leota, 88), Hearn (Tegg, 81)
Norway: Skarboe; Horpestad, Nordby, Christensen, Folstad; Stensland, M. Knutsen, Storlokken (Thorsnes, 59); Larsen Kaurin (G. Knutsen, 59), Gulbrandsen (Herlovsen, 76), Wiik
Referee: Estela Alvarez (Argentina)
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