Norway

 

Written By Johnny Salinas

 

Winner of the 1995 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Norway’s women’s national team is looking to win its second trophy at the FIFA Women’s World Cup (1). The Norwegians will be entering the tournament as the number 11 ranked team in the world (2).

Performance at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup

 

Having had such an impressive record during the qualifiers for the 2011, by topping their qualification group and allowing just 2 goals, Norway were expected to do well in the tournament (3). In the group stage, Norway found themselves placed in group D along with Brazil, Australia, and Equatorial Guinea. While Norway looked good from a statistical point-of-view, their performance on the field would tell a different story. The Norwegians would start off their world cup campaign with a 1-0 victory over Equatorial Guinea, thanks to a late goal from Emilie Haavi (4). With a win at hand, things looked good for Norway, but in their second match of the tournament, they suffered a 0-3 loss to the Brazilians (5). Needing to earn a win in order to advance to the knock-out stages, the Norwegians entered their last group stage match against Australia looking for that win. After a scoreless first half, Norway was able to break the tie with a goal from a Elise Thornse, but the goal would be cancelled out a minute later after a strike from Australia’s Kyah Simon found the back of the net. Things did not look good for the Norwegians as the match progressed and with just 3 minutes remaining, Kyah Simon found the back of the net once again; with the game ending 1-2, Norway would be packing their bags and heading home (6) (7).

 

2013 UEFA European Women’s Championship

 

Following their early exit in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup and failure to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics, Norway qualified for the 2013 UEFA European Women’s Championship. In the group stage, the Norwegians would find themselves placed in group B along with Iceland, the Netherlands, and then reigning European champions Germany. In their opening match at the Euro, Norway would face off against Iceland and would have to settle for a 1-1 draw. In their second match of the tournament, Norway would manage to overcome the Dutch with a 1-0 win. In their last match of the group stage, Norway would pull off the greatest upset when they beat Germany 1-0 to top off the group (8).

Having come out on top in their group, Norway would face Spain in the quarterfinals of the tournament. The Norwegians would find little opposition from the Spaniards, as they would go on to control much of the match and win 3-1. In the semifinals, Norway would face Denmark in what would be a very close match that would go onto be decided by a penalty shoot-out. Norway would prevail in the shoot-out and find themselves advancing to the finals where they would be facing Germany in a rematch. Norway had shocked Germany earlier on in the tournament and would look to do so again, that would turn out to not be the case as Germany would go on to win 1-0 and claim the European Women’s Championship (9).

 

2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Norway would qualify for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup coming out as the top team in group 5 in the UEFA region (10). During qualification, Norway had compiled a 9-1 record while scoring 41 goals and letting in 5. Norway will be entering the tournament with a fairly strong team and they have been given 30/1 odds to win the tournament as of February 2015 by Westgate (11).

 

Player to Watch: Maren Mjelde

Norway’s player to watch for the tournament is defender Maren Mjelde. Mjelde made her international debut for Norway in 2007 and since making her debut, has become an important part of Norway’s defense (12). Despite being young and having very little international experience, Mjelde was selected as one of the players that would be a part of Norway’s national team in the 2009 Euro (13)  and 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup (3). Mjelde would play an important role on the Norwegian team in the 2013 UEFA Women’s Euro as she would be an important defender that helped Norway advance to the final and pull off the biggest upset in the tournament when Norway defeated Germany in the group stage (8). Mjelde was also selected to the tournament all-star team for her performance for Norway throughout the tournament (14). On the club level, Mjelde started her career in the Toppserien league in Norway, playing for Arna Bjornr before transferring to FFC Turbine Potsdam of the German Bundesliga (15). A talented defender, Maren Mjelde will be a key player for Norway and will be an integral part of their defense in the upcoming tournament.

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Works Cited

1) “Women’s Team – Norway – UEFA.com.” Uefa.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/teams/womensteama/team=500101/profile/index.html>.

2) “The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking – Associations – Norway – Women’s – FIFA.com.” FIFA.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/associations/association=nor/women/index.html>.

3) “FIFA.com – FIFA Women’s World Cup: Norway – Profile.” FIFA.com – FIFA Women’s World Cup: Norway – Profile. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/teams/team=1882882/profile.html>

4) “FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™.” FIFA.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/matches/round=255997/match=300144441/index.html>.

5) “FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™.” FIFA.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/matches/round=255997/match=300144429/index.html>.

6) “FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™.” FIFA.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/matches/round=255997/match=300144451/index.html>.

7) “Simon’s Cool Double Settles It for Aussies.” YouTube. YouTube, 11 July 2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgGRUMCN-5Q>.

8) “Germany Suffer Shock Loss to Norway.” BBC Sport. N.p., 17 July 2013. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/23351480>.

9) “UEFA Women’s EURO 2013 – History – – UEFA.com.” UEFA.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.uefa.com/womenseuro/season=2013/teams/team=500101/matches/index.html>.

10)”Women’s World Cup – Standings – UEFA.com.” UEFA.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.uefa.com/womensworldcup/season=2015/standings/round=2000433/group=2002381/index.html>.

11)”2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Odds – USA Opens as Favorite.” Linemakers. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. <http://linemakers.sportingnews.com/article/4635523-womens-world-cup-odds-2015-betting-lines-las-vegas-usa-germany-brazil-japan>.

12)”Maren Mjelde.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maren_Mjelde>.

13) “UEFA Women’s EURO 2009 – History – – UEFA.com.” UEFA.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.uefa.com/womenseuro/season=2009/teams/team=500101/squad/index.html>.

14) “UEFA Women’s EURO – News – UEFA.com.” UEFA.com. N.p., 30 July 2013. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.uefa.com/womenseuro/news/newsid=1977927.html>.

15) “Player Search.” Connect World Football. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.cwfootball.net/players.php?action=show_player_details&player_id=178&page=7>.

Images

a) Norway Ranking.

http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/associations/association=nor/women/index.html

b)2011 FIFA World Cup standings

FIFA.com – FIFA Women’s World Cup. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/standings/index.html

c)UEFA Women’s EURO 2013 Standings

http://www.uefa.com/womenseuro/season=2013/standings/round=2000175/group=2001147/index.html

d)Maren Mjelde

http://img.fifa.com/imgml/tournament/fwwc/players/germany2011/xl/295585.png

 

How to cite this article: “Norway” Written by Johnny Salinas (2015), World Cup 2015, Soccer Politics Blog, Duke University, http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/world-cup-guides/world-cup-2015-guide/players-to-watch-at-the-2015-womens-world-cup/norway/ (accessed on (date))