I agree ,it´s boring that group B is the same as 2003. Solveig Gulbrandsen was in the Swedish WC studio during the draw together with Hingst ans Svensson and she felt that group C would be ok for Norway, and pointed out with a big smile that C is better than group B So for Norway i think it is a great group.
FIFA's evil plot against Sweden, you mean. And who knows, Sweden may be plenty of excitement for the US; at least, it will look more like a soccer game than the slugfest that the North Korea and Nigeria games will. I'm sure that both Sweden and US will get out of the group, but it's a question of how many bruises they suffer along the way.
I'm not sure that giving you the right answer to the wrong question is helpful. The right question for Norway is 'How strong are the other teams in Group C going to be come September'? One way to answer that question is to use historical match records, previous WWC performances, WWC rankings etc. as a PROXY measure (in other words, not a true measure) of current strength. I think Ryan's point is that particular proxy measure is seriously misleading when it comes to teams like Australia and Canada. I doubt that historical records will be much of a comfort if Norway fails to advance. To answer your original question - maybe Argentina, New Zealand, Nigeria and/or Ghana might have a poorer (or non-existant) historical record against Norway.
Since it is extremely difficult for any of us to accurately predict how strong a team will actually be 4 months from now, "historical match records, previous WWC performances," as well as recent performances in tournaments such as the Algarve Cup is basically what we have to go on now for the most part. I think Canada will be a very difficult opponent for Norway to play in their first match and expect them to play much better than they did when I saw Norway win easily in their final friendly prior to Euro 2005. However, during the past two years Norway has lost to Denmark, England, and Japan, so I'm sure Coach Berntsen is quite happy not to have to face any of these teams in group play.
That Marta where not included in the top 5 in sweden where hilarious for all us who seen damallsvenskan. That where such big error that ... actually I can't find words and I am not alone to think that. All people except those who chosed to not have Marta in the final 5 know she where the best one. It was a simple scandal ...
You might be right, but I don't believe it would have been possible for Norway to have ended up in a group that included Argentina, New Zealand, and Ghana. Here is what was posted by lovingthegreen in the "FIFA All-Star Match and WWC Draw TV Coverage" thread: If Coach Berntsen had his choice here, I'm sure he would have selected Australia without much hesitation. And here was the next post in that thread by lovingthegreen: Again if Coach Bertsen had the opportunity to chose his next Group C opponent, even though Norway has owned Sweden for the past 12 years , Bjarne would have still probably selected Canada. And then out of the final four countries left (Ghana, Nigeria, Argentina and New Zealand), I'm not sure what Norway's record is against these four, but Ghana has by far the lowest FIFA ranking. In any event, I have a feeling that Coach Berntsen slept very well last Sunday night.
As someone who not only watched Marta up close during the first leg of the UEFA Women's Cup semifinal at Kolbotn, but also heard what her Swedish (and Norwegian) teammates had to say about her during the press conference afterwards, I completely agree with you. However, I think these posts should be moved to another thread since we are discussing the WWC draw here.
Sorry I should of course quoted what part I answered so it made more sense and of course this thread is about the WWC and nothing else.
Im biased, but i sure would have rather been grouped with Denmark or England rather than Canada. If your judging by current form it took the USA 120mins to beat Canada in the Gold Cup final, a game the USA badly wanted to win. Canada also beat Sweden 4-2 in the US. And if you look at the teams last matches against eachother Canada beat Denmark 4-3 in Denmark, and beat England 4-0 twice in a row in Canada. And in my opinion Canada has a much better coach in Pellerud, his collection of trophys and his history with Canada and Norway will prove that. Surely Norway won't want to face a coach that knows them inside and out?
Nordby, I assume those are not actually Coach Berntsen's thoughts during the draw? In any case there is an old saying that comes to mind - 'Be careful what you wish for'.
Again if Coach Bertsen had the opportunity to chose his next Group C opponent, even though Norway has owned Sweden for the past 12 years , Bjarne would have still probably selected Canada. Well Norway has never owned Sweden but you are right nordby somehow they always manage to win over us in the past. Could go either way with Norway vs Sweden because they know each other in side out And yes they where better than us at a point in time, but not anymore.
Well in Sweden and Denmark they have entire teams that knew them inside an out, so I guess they would prefer Canada.
What about them? England have a good team, they so want to be up there and respected as a great team, but respect is something they have to earn. And if they play the cards right it just might happen. I think they are a bit uneven, thats there problem right now, and they rely on one player to much ,Kelly Smith.
I have tremendous respect for Canada's National Team and realize that Norway will have a much more difficult time defeating Canada in their opening match of group play than they did two years ago in Sarpsborg, Norway. I'm not sure if any of the players from the Canadian team that lost 7-1 to Norway during the '99 WWC will even be on Canada's 2007 WWC squad so Norway's WC record against Canada won't be much of a factor eight years later. One of the things that I was hoping for in this draw was for Norway to avoid, at least during group play, some of the countries they have struggled with in recent years such as Denmark, England, and Japan. However the country I am most thankful that Norway avoided having in their group is Brazil.
Canada has had a number of extremely impressive results in just the past year alone including and a victory and a draw over #7 ranked France in France along with two victories over #13 Italy. These were are also good results for Canada, but the Danish team that Canada defeated two years ago was not the same team that Norway lost to last month and the English team Canada defeated twice four years was not the same team that defeated Norway two years ago. I still think that until Canada proves that they can actually defeat Norway, the Norwegians would prefer having Canada as their opponent in group play instead of Sweden, Denmark, or England. You won't get any argument from me about what a great coach Pellerud is. It was interesting to see that the Norwegian Football Federation offered him a long term contract to leave Canada and return home to Norway, but Pellerud decided to stay in Canada instead and the Norwegians had to settle on Berntsen. Pellerud's knowledge of the Norwegian squad will be a definite plus for Canada, but hasn't it been something like 9 years since he actually coached Norway? Also, isn't Bente Nordby the only player left from Pellerud's '95 WC champions and '96 Olympic bronze medal squads who still plays for Norway?
No, I don't have any actual quotes from Berntsen about his thoughts on the draw. However, I do have his business card sitting next to my computer right now and I do plan to ask him a few questions by email this weekend. The comments I made in my previous post were based on an article I read where Berntsen commented about how satisfied he was with Norway's draw and how fortunate he felt that Norway was by not ending up in a group with Sweden, North Korea, and Nigeria like the U.S. did. What you say is very true, but I really think that in the end, the Norway - Canada match will likely determine which team finishes first and which team finishes second in the group. I don't want to show any disrespect for Australia especially after watching the Socceroos up close and personal at the Home Depot Center during the '03 WWC, but I still expect both Norway and Canada to advance out of group play.
Yes, I was being a bit sarcastic about Norway "owning" Sweden, but for the record, Norway still hasn't lost to Sweden since prior to the '95 WWC (which of course Norway managed to win in Sweden ).
Sooner or later they will. Euro 2005 was a close call for Norway. I know norby that you are a big fan of Norway so i forgive you Don´t get me wrong, Norway has a good team.