This article is actually from 10 days ago but is all I can find at this point. It is still unclear whether she will be able to play in the World Cup games. http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/03/en/030821/1/42o.html
One of Hege's goals was just to make Norway's World Cup squad and last week she came one step closer to accomplishing this when she was named to Norway's 22 player training camp roster along with Unni Lehn, Courage International Discovery Player Candidate Solveig Gulbrandsen, and former Courage goalkeeper Bente Nordby. The players will meet on the island of Hankø in the Oslo fjord next Thursday and train together for four days before Norwegian Coach Åge Steen decides on Norway's final 20 player World Cup roster. Hege was actually in the news today because her former Norwegian club Asker has been attempting to have Riise and New York Power midfielder Anita Rapp returned on loan for the rest of the the Norwegian season. Unni Lehn's former Norwegian club Trondheims-Ørn and Dagny Mellgren's old club Klepp have also attempted to have these players returned on loan as well. The WUSA has agreed to the loan, but the main sticking point has been the FIFA rule that requires players to go on loan for at least six months. In the case of the four Norwegian players their WUSA contracts will expire at the end of the year and because of this the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) is not accepting the transfer. The WUSA is saying that the Norwegian players have a contract "option" for the rest of 2004, but the NFF does not consider that to be a valid contract. Here's the link to today's article (If you can't read Norwegian there is still a nice picture of Hege ): http://www.toppserien.com/asker_nyheter_030831_proffimport_kan_stoppe.htm
Thanks so much, Nordby! Klee and I are going up to the Norway game in Washington DC Sept 24. It will be so cool to get to see Bente Nordby again (fingers crossed) as well as Unni. And if Hege can play at least part of the game that will be the icing on the cake.
I'm Jealous!! If I could see any first round match of the WC it would be the Norway-Brazil match. Fortunately that match will be televised live here in the U.S. I don't think you will have to cross your fingers about seeing Bente Nordby. She started two matches last week in the UEFA Women's Club Championship and Kolbotn won both by a combined score of 10-1. I'm sure you will see Unni play against Brazil as well, but if you want to see Hege in the first round of the WC you will have to cross your fingers. I hope I'm wrong, but I have a feeling that as a precaution, Hege probably won't see any action for Norway prior to the quarterfinals.
What's the word from the Nowegian coaches and federation regarding Hege's medical treatment, recovery, and progress? While not the quarters it would be outstanding if we saw her at Foxboro
Heeligan2 Are you going to be in DC for the US match on the 21st. Myself and a friend are going to be there. K~
You are lucky! No, we won't be. We got the Norway tickets from a friend who had the whole JFK series but could not go to the other games. Have fun....
Hege Played!! Hege actually came in today as a sub!! Hopefully Hege will get even more playing time in the Sept. 24th match. Since someone out there might have had more luck taping today's match on TeleFutura than I did, I won't give any details.
Boy was she limping. Pretty frightening to watch. A handful of photos at: http://www.ibiblio.org/footy/2003wwc/0920_nor_fra_ycj.php
Hege Wants More Playing Time I just saw an article about Hege wanting more playing time that was posted at the Norwegian webiste "siste.no." It is late and I'm borrowing a computer that doesn't have my translation software installed so I can't give much of an English summary right now, but when asked if Hege would get more playing time, Coach Åge Steen replied "No, Hege has received all of the time she is going to get." There is also a nice picture of Hege included with the article: Riise vil ha mer spilletid
Re: Hege Wants More Playing Time She was limping severely in the couple minutes she did play. Really favored her bad knee. She looked fine with the ball, but I'm not sure she's ready (and she's a month ahead of Shannon MacMillan). I doubt she'll play any more than the tail end of any game.
She came in yesterday and did not seem to be limping so badly. She had some good feeds. The Norwegians could not seem to string two passes together and Bente seemed more like we remember her