Norway's attendance record is 15,762 from a game against the USA prior to the Sydney Olympics 2000. It's three days to go to the Sweden game and nearly 4000 tickets more need to be sold. I think they'll fall just shy of that.
Defender Guro Bergsvand (Brighton) forced to withdraw from the Euro squad after injury. Marthine Østenstad (Brann) added to the squad as replacement. Not a surprising choice from Grainger, but I would have picked Østenstad's Brann colleague Mia Authen instead, who is just as comfortable on the ball, but quicker. 14 000 tickets sold yesterday for the Sweden match. The attendance record is within reach after all.
French President Macron was on a two day official visit in Norway (Mon/Tue). Ada Hegerberg was on King Harald's guestlist for the event.
16 000 tickets have been sold for the Sweden game, it looks like the record from 2000 will be broken after all.
Extended highlights of the game. I didn't watch it so can't really comment but I will be in Basel for the first Euro game against Switzerland.
Deserved 2-0 win for Sweden. Norway looked poor in possession as usual. I don't think we will get through the group stage this time either, despite the favourable group. Grainger picked Mjelde in central defence and the unbearably slow Marit Bratberg Lund at left back against the speedy Kaneryd . Ada Hegerberg is a shadow of her former self. I don't think Elisabeth Terland should be benched for her anymore. PS: 13,919 spectators yesterday, so the old record from 2000 still stands. This is a better and more compact resume of the match. The video posted above only had first half action for some reason.
My bad, I realized AFTER posting it that those were only extended highlights from the first half. The Norwegian FA's YouTube channel hasn't posted any highlights of games for several months now.
I watched the first 60 minutes of the match. One team ran, the other one was very static. Despite Hegerberg is very far from her peak, she was relatively active, pressing the opponent, winning balls, trying to do something while Graham Hansen walked quietly on the pitch , made no calls, was never positioned correctly and never in front when it needed to be. I always feel like this player is bored when she plays for Norway. Does she only like the strong players at Barca to put so little effort into her national team?
Graham Hansen has played some great matches for Norway over the years, but she tends to fade away in games Norway don't dominate. She is used to being set up on the right wing in Barcelona and have a go at the full-back time and again, but that occurs rarely when Norway play against top opposition. She is not the typical aggressive ball winner either. Gemma Grainger has sometimes used her in the #10 position as well, but I hope she plays on the wing in the Euros where she is at her best.
I don't think a single coach in the last 10 years or so has been able to get the best out of her for Norway. It also doesn't help that she was injured and thus unavailable for multiple national team games in the past 3 years or so. Then there were also her cardiac issues, not sure whatever happened with that.
Norway - Euro 2025 squad I wish them good luck. There hasn't been much to be excited about leading up to this tournament, but may be they can conjure up some sort of tournament form to progress and grow from there. There is enough individual talent and experience here, but big questionmarks around how to put all the pieces together to create a strong unit. Top row from left: Marit Bratberg Lund (Benfica), Tuva Hansen (Bayern München), Cecilie Fiskerstrand (Fiorentina), Selma Panengstuen (Brann), Aurora Mikalsen (1.FC Köln), Celin Bizet (Manchester United), Vilde Bøe Risa (Atletico Madrid). Mid row from left: Justine Kielland (Wolfsburg), Elisabeth Terland (Manchester United), Mathilde Harviken (Juventus), Frida Maanum (Arsenal), Guro Bergsvand (withdrew/injured), Synne Jensen (Atletico Madrid), Karina Sævik (Vålerenga), Signe Gaupset (Brann). Bottom row from left: Emilie Woldvik (Rosengård), Maren Mjelde (Everton), Guro Reiten (Chelsea), Caroline G. Hansen (Barcelona), Gemma Grainger (Head coach), Ada Hegerberg (Lyon), Ingrid Engen (Barcelona), Lisa Naalsund (Manchester United), Thea Bjelde (Vålerenga). Not in picture: Marthine Østenstad (Brann). Replacement for Guro Bergsvand. Players based in leagues: 6 - FA WSL (ENG) 5 - Toppserien (NOR) 4 - Liga F (ESP) 3 - Frauen-Bundesliga (GER) 2 - Serie A (ITA) 1 - Damallsvenskan (SWE) 1 - Premiere Ligue (FRA) 1 - CN Feminino (POR) Previous tournament experience: EURO 2022 (13): Guro Reiten, Thea Bjelde, Tuva Hansen, Maren Mjelde, Caroline G. Hansen, Aurora Mikalsen, Ada Hegerberg, Ingrid Engen, Vilde Bøe Risa, Karina Sævik, Elisabeth Terland, Celin Bizet and Frida Maanum. EURO 2017 (7): Guro Reiten, Tuva Hansen, Maren Mjelde, Caroline G. Hansen, Cecilie Fiskerstrand, Ada Hegerberg and Frida Maanum. EURO 2013 (3): Maren Mjelde, Caroline G. Hansen and Ada Hegerberg. EURO 2009 (1): Maren Mjelde Group stage matches: 2 July at 21:00 CET - Switzerland vs Norway (St. Jakob Park, Basel) 6 July at 18:00 CET - Norway vs Finland (Stade de Tourbillon, Sion) 10 July at 21:00 CET - Norway vs Iceland (Arena Thun, Thun)
On paper, they have a much easier group than at the last Euros with roughly the same squad only 3 years older. 13 players who were there in 2022 are in the tournament roster now. They have what it takes to beat all 3 teams in the group but probably not the likes of Spain, France, England, Germany. I just hope the team can stay drama free unlike what happened at the last World Cup.
Uff what an epic game!!! Very mediocre first half and then had maybe their best performance in the second half in the last 6-7 years and won deservedly. More on the game later!
25th anniversary year of their Olympic gold medal! 30th anniversary year of their World Cup gold medal! Hmmmmm, one can imagine and hope!
Tonight we are likely to know who they will face in the quarter-finals, assuming they finish first they would almost certainly avoid Spain but potentially have to face Italy who they drew against twice last year but who outplayed them in Oslo.
I was doing some statistics on game time for the 8 teams still in the tournament and I noted Norway in their final group game against did not give a minute to Reiten, Bjelde, Graham Hansen, Hegerberg and Engen, that's ballsy.
And Norway played better without them. Bjelde is likely to return at right-back and Caro Hansen on the right wing for the quarter-final, but the others are question-marks now. Football commentators in Norway want Hegerberg on the bench because Elisabeth Terland is much better in the pressing game. Can Reiten defend her spot on the team after Gaupset's excellent showing against Iceland? Big decision for Gemma Grainger to make. Engen keep losing the ball every time in midfield. Naalsund played better against Iceland. I'm very curious to know that starting XI on Wednesday.
To be fair, it's easy to leave out big players against Iceland when you've already reached your goal of qualifying for the knockout stage. At the end of the day, you still need Reiten, Engen, Caro Hansen, Hegerberg when facing Italy, Spain, England and so on. Maybe not all at the same time on the pitch or in the starting 11 though.