Pre-Olympic schedule announced: http://fotball.adressa.no/kvinner/article97281.ece OPPKJØRINGEN 10-20. februar: Treningsleir på Kypros. Kamper mot Sverige og England. 5-12. mars: Algarve Cup, Portugal. Kamper mot Italia, Kina og USA. 3. mai: EM-kvalifisering hjemme mot Israel. 7. mai: EM-kvalifisering hjemme mot Polen. 21. juni: EM-kvalifisering borte mot Østerrike. 25. juni: EM-kvalifisering borte mot Polen. 14-24. juli: OL-prekamp på Østlandet. Kamper mot Sverige og Tyskland. The precamp against Sweden and Germany should be interesting. I'm glad to have some good competition just before going to Beijing. I was a little worried scrolling through the Euro qualifiers against Poland, Austria and Israel ... I was thinking, 'Surely, these can't be the only games before China."
Trine Rønning will be out 4-6 weeks due to knee surgery: http://www.oblad.no/article/20080115/OPPEGARD/984845009/1056/SPORT
Algarve Cup 5 March Norway - Italy 7 March Norway - China 10 March Norway - USA http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/results/female.html#
Ugh. This seems like a recurring theme: From Røa's Web site: Marit Fiane Christensen will be out 3-4 weeks due to a knee operation. Luckily, everyone's getting patched up now and not later.
Squad for the England-Sweden matches in Cyprus has been announced: Squad for Cyprus February 10-20: Ingrid Hjelmseth, Asker Christine Colombo Nilsen, Kolbotn Gunhild B. Følstad, Trondheims-Ørn Ane Stangeland Horpestad, Klepp Lise Meistad, Røa Siri Nordby, Røa Trine Rønning, Kolbotn Runa Vikestad, Kolbotn Madeleine Giske, Arna-Bjørnar Solveig Gulbrandsen, Kolbotn Isabell Herlovsen, Kolbotn Leni Larsen Kaurin, Turbine Potsdam Marie Knutsen, Røa Kristin Lie, Trondheims-Ørn Kristine Lindblom, Kolbotn Lene Mykjåland, Røa Ingvild Stensland, Kopparberg/Göteborg FC Lene Storløkken, Team Strømmen Elise Thorsnes, Arna-Bjørnar Lindy Melissa Wiik, Asker http://fotballmagasinet.no/?mode=news&id=12040 It's interesting Rønning has been named to the squad, given her knee surgery. Also, I'm curious to see who Bjarne will name as the GK. I would assume it would be Hjelmseth, but only because Colombo tweaked her knee at an indoor tourney playing with Kolbotn. Of course, these next few tournies will be very, very interesting. I've only seen Hjelmseth play a handful of matches, but wasn't terribly impressed. I'd like to see what Colombo can do as starting GK.
Cyprus Training Camp England 2, Norway 1 ENGLAND - NORGE 2-1 (0-0) Attendance: 50 Ref: Sofia Karagiorgi, Cards: Karen Carney, England. Rachel Yankey, England. Goals: 1-0 Sara Williams (47. min), 1-1 Ingvild Stensland (53. min), 2-1 Kelly Smith (Straffe, 64. min) Norway (4-3-3): Christine Colombo Nilsen - Siri Nordby, Runa Vikestad, Ane S. Horpestad, Gunhild Følstad - Marie Knutsen, Ingvild Stensland, Lene Storløkken - Kristin Lie, Solveig Guldbrandsen, Melissa Wiik. Quick bits, since I don't have the time, nor my handy dictionary. And online help only goes so far ... From other articles, and me: -- Solveig G. was playing as a true striker, instead of a middie -- I think this is Stensland's second goal (?) of all time. (I can't remember if she scored between the Algarve and WWC last year.) From the article: Ingvild Stensland scored on a long shot which was a goalkeeper-blunder. It was a shot a goalkeeper at this level has to take and it was by far greatest chance we created. -- Bjarne Berntsen "On the penalty shot situation it's an English player who breaks through and is taken (down) by the hands of our goalkeeper. For us on the bench it looked correct, but people who were closer to the situation, thought that Christine wasn't near the player," Berntsen said. BB said the defense wasn't really there today and that Norway also had some injuries that thinned the bench even more. Thus, Runa Vikestad made her debut with the A-team. And he was pleased with her first game. That's it. Any Norsk/skandinaviske folksen can fill in the blanks, but I think that's pretty much it.
F*ck, I wrote a long reply about the gk thing but it disappered... and now I don't have time to restore it! I'll have to do it another day. Anyway, a 2-1 even to England isn't not too bad and from the reports, the teams seems to have played equal. I wish the game against Sweden would have been aired on television, it's going to be a really interesting game, I think . Edit: LOL, how do they choose the photos to the articles on NFF??? The picture of Stensland's really funny, haha... seriously, there must have been at least 200 hundred photos of the match if someone actually were there to cover it - and they chosed that pic! Unbelievable ;P. http://www.fotball.no/t1.aspx?p=51831&x=1&a=219161
does anyone know a mail adres or site where i can order some autographs of nowary players??? already thanks
I don't think so, HSFG. I know sometimes the clubs will offer something like this, but not the national team. Sorry!
Here are some round ups of the U-20 and U-23 teams. The U20s have been in Chile, for a Four Nations Tournament, playing Chile, U.S.A. and England. The U23s were playing in La Manga, where they faced Germany, the U.S. and England. U20 Results CHILE 3:3 NORWAY (0-2) 2-11-08 Cards: none Goals: 0-1 Tine Wulf Eikeland (5 min), 0-2 June Tårnes (40), 2-3 Tårnes (83) USA 2:1 NORWAY (2-0) 2-13-08 Cards: none Goals: 1-0 Keelin Winters (11 min), 2-0 Theresa Noyola (42 min), 2-1 Gunnhild Herregården (72 min). NORWAY 2:2 ENGLAND (0-0) 2-15-08 Yellow: Maren Mjelde, Norway. Goals: 1-0 Ingrid Ryland (51 min), 2-0 Maren Mjelde (55 min), 2-1 Ellen White (82 min), 2-2 OG (90 min). U23 Results GERMANY 1:0 NORWAY (1-0) 2-12-08 Yellow: Nasra Abdullah, Norway. Goal: 1-0 Stephanie Goddard (45) USA 2:0 NORWAY (1-0) 2-13-08 Yellow: none Red: Nikki Krzysik, U.S.A. Goals: 1-0 Yael Averbuch (21), 2-0 Trude Johannessen (OG, 72!) NORWAY 5:0 ENGLAND (3-0) 2-15-08 Yellow: Rachel Williams, ENG Goals: 1-0 Gunilla Forseth (12 min), 2-0 Bettina Langlo Jevne (18 min), 3-0 Nasra Abdullah (40 min), 4-0 Ingrid Schjelderup (69 min), 5-0 Aimee Edris (82 min).
Oh, please do. I'm very interested in your opinion, since you follow Asker FK and Hjelmseth so closely. Although I believe if Colombo's knee is OK, she'll get the No. position. I think it will. Neither the Toppserien nor Damallsvenskan have started up their seasons yet, while England is in the middle of theirs. Not to mention Bjarne stated in the article that he had just 3 field players and one GK on the bench due to injuries AND he did bring a very young squad this time. I know, right? I think all the photos they've used so far are from the WWC. This is a training camp in Cyprus, so I don't know if anyone would be covering it. I seriously doubt it.
Don't worry, I will... soon . No, it's probably not a live-picture but in a way that makes the photo question even more intresting 'cuz they must have like thousands of pictures of Stensland! Hehehe.
Well, from other reports, the squad was thinned against England earlier in the week when they lost 2-1, and Bjarne said in an article that he had three field players and one GK on the bench and that was it. Here's the lineup from the SWE match: Norway (4-3-3): Ingrid Hjelmseth – Madeleine Giske (Lise Meistad 70), Runa Vikestad, Ane S. Horpestad, Gunhild Følstad – Marie Knutsen, Kristine Lindblom (Ingvild Stensland 63), Lene Storløkken (Kristin Lie 65) – Leni Kaurin, Solveig Guldbrandsen, Isabell Herlovsen (Elise Thorsnes 63) We lost Ragnhild Gulbrandsen, Camilla Huse and Bente Nordby for good since the World Cup. Trine Rønning and Marit Fiane Christensen are both out with knee injuries. And Leni Larsen Kaurin was sick up until the Sweden match. Again, I think attacking will be a problem for Norway, once again. The only goal scored during the two matches was by Stensland. Kaurin's best at assisting and I think Herlovsen still needs a little time to come into her own. I mean, she's only 19. And Solveig is a prolific scorer in Toppserien, but I don't know how she's going to fit into the mix up top in Ragnhild's spot. I think Bjarne has a whole lot of decisions to make about his roster and he's using these early camps and tournaments to feel everyone out. At least, I hope so. If not, the OLY are going to be ugly.
Next Up: Algarve Cup Wed, March 5 Norway - Italy USA - China Friday, March 7 USA - Italy Norway - China Monday, March 10 USA - Norway China - Italy
Bjarne Berntsen announces Algarve Cup squad: Ingrid Hjelmseth - Asker Christine Colombo Nilsen - Kolbotn Erika Skarbø - Arna-Bjørnar Marit F. Christensen - Røa Gunhild B. Følstad - Trondheims-Ørn Ane S. Horpestad - Klepp Siri Nordby - Røa Runa Vikestad - Kolbotn Solveig Gulbrandsen - Kolbotn Isabell Herlovsen - Kolbotn Leni Larsen Kaurin - Turbine Potsdam Guro Knutsen - Røa Marie Knutsen - Røa Kristin Lie - Trondheims-Ørn Marita S. Lund - Team Strømmen Lene Mykjåland - Røa Ingvild Stensland - Kopparberg/Göteborg FC Lene Storløkken - Team Strømmen Elise Thorsnes - Arna-Bjørnar Lindy Melissa Wiik - Asker Algarve vs. Cyprus rosters: IN: -- Guro Knutsen - Røa -- Erika Skarbø - Arna-Bjørnar (I'm betting BB uses her at some point this tourney, as he used both Colombo and Hjelmseth in Cyprus, both letting in two goals each.) -- Marita S. Lund - Team Strømmen -- Marit F. Christensen - Røa (Coming back from knee injury) OUT: -- Madeleine Giske, Arna-Bjørnar -- Trine Rønning, Kolbotn* -- Kristine Lindblom, Kolbotn -- Lise Meistad, Røa * -- IIRC, Rønning was injured about a week before the Cyprus roster was announced. She was included on the roster, but I don't think she got any playing time. I think perhaps she was left off the roster because of this injury. http://www.fotball.no/t2.aspx?p=53172&cat=51835&x=1&a=219688
Why focus so much on the lost to Sweden, i would be more worried about not winning over England. Between Norway and Sweden it´s even steven, either team can win. But mostly Norway did win over Sweden ,thats right. But there is a long way to go, i know the feeling when alot of players get injured. Sweden still got players not back fron ACL, and other knee problems. It really dosen´t matter who wins or loses now come August, tha main thing is that both Norway and Sweden got a chance to try things out, and i am sure Norway will be just as good as they use to be
I'm concerned about the losses, but I'm not overly concerned about them. Sickness and injury thinned the bench against an English side who is in the middle of their premier league season. The Scandinavians are all coming out of hibernation, so to speak. But honestly, I'm just hoping Berntsen gets the chance to tinker with his lineup and formations and try out some new players ... Maybe even some old players in new positions, i.e., Solveig as striker. A win in these camps and tournies are fun for bragging rights, but in the end, the only thing that matters is Beijing. Norway's been gone from the OLY for 8 years now. They desperately need to make a good showing.
just saw eurosport will not show the algarve cup this year while they always did it when we gonna ghet the atention we deserve