-------------------------------------------------- Translated article from Toppserien.com: "Innhentet på seks områder" -------------------------------------------------- 6 REASONS TO FAILURE Coach Åge Steen has analyzed which parts of the game Norway must improve on, although we don't need to be leading nation on all those areas. The process of evaluating the World Cup and status of Norwegian women's soccer started last Wednesday when Åge Steen gathered his staff at a meeting on Gardemoen (Oslo international airport). - To begin with, everyone in the staff and every player will analyze her and others performances before and during the World Cup. On Tuesday will all national team coaches at all age levels be included. Friday will Toppserien officials (representing the league clubs) also take part, says Åge Steen to toppserien.com. NFF (Norwegian soccer association) takes the WC-failure seriously. Åge Steen might be the one who really wants to know "what went wrong?". He has already pointed to six reasons where other nations have caught up or become better than Norway. 1. GOALKEEPERS - Many teams have developed considerably better keepers than in earlier years. We have had Nordby as a leader on that area, but the World Cup showed that many of our opponents now have just as good or close to as good keepers as we have. 2. DEFENCE - Teams like Germany and USA have developed their defensive qualities. We were pioneers on zonal defence. Now many nations master this system just as good as us. 3. PHYSICAL STRENGTH - Our opponents have improved drastically both at endurance and duel strength. I'm particularly impressed by Sweden. Two years ago we ran over them during the last 15 minutes at Sandnes stadium. This year they have shown they are strong towards the end of every game. At duel strength I think USA was totally superior. Everybody feared Norway there, but now others are stronger. 4. SET PIECES - USA '03 is the tournament of set-pieces. 36% of all goals came from "standard situations" (corners,freekicks etc). In WC 99 that percentage was only 23. That's a major increase. USA scored 80% of their goals from set pieces. Sweden and Canada were also good. The final itself was decided on a goal from set pieces. 5. AERIAL STRENGTH - There are many good players with aerial strength in the women's game now. Traditionally it has been one of those areas where it has lagged a lot behind the men. We saw many good goals from headers in this WC, i.e. when Abby Wambach decided the quarterfinal against us. 6. ONE ON ONE - We must improve our dribbling skills so we can get past opponents without passing the ball to a teammate. - The great thing about this is that it isn't opinions. It is documented. We need to look around and see what is happening. Will we go on working after the same guidelines or change directions? It is too early to make a decision. We have to wait until everyone involved has come forward with their views, fisnishes Steen.
SV: Coach Åge Steen on why Norway failed "Tusen takk" for posting this Bauser. Hopefully Åge Steen will also take a good hard look at some of his roster choices. Two of Norway's most experienced defenders, Gøril Kringen and Bente Kvitland were not even called into Norway's final two training camps and neither was Ingvild Stensland, one of the best defenders in Norway's domestic league last year. When right back Marianne Paulsen tore her ACL one day after Steen named his WC roster, I was very surprised that Steen selected midfielder Karin Bredland to replace Paulsen on the roster. Bredland didn't end up playing a single minute in the WC while defenders Marit F. Christensen and Gunhild Følstad who only had a few caps between them played most of the minutes at right back for Norway. Bente Kvitland with her 37 caps playing mostly at right back for Norway instead sat at home in Trondheim watching Norway lose to Brazil and the U.S. on television.
Kringen Still Belongs on NT Gøril Kringen was asked recently by "toppserien.com" which players she thinks have deserved a chance to play for Norway's National Team and along with Ingvild Stensland and Asker's Kjersti Thun I believe she also says that she could have seen herself playing for the National Team as well. Gøril Kringen,Trondheims-Ørn