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| Abbie Magee of Northern Ireland (R) battles for the ball with Ada Hegerberg of Norway (L) during the UEFA Women’s Euro England 2022 group A match between Norway and Northern Ireland at St Mary’s Stadium on July 7, 2022 in Southampton, United Kingdom. |
Norway didn’t need Ada Hegerberg to score to cruise
to an opening victory at the Women’s European Championship on Thursday, beating
tournament newcomer Northern Ireland 4-1.
Hegerberg, the all-time leading scorer in the
Women’s Champions League, set up Norway’s second from Frida Maanum in the 13th
minute at Southampton’s St. Mary’s Stadium.
Julie Blakstad had opened the scoring three minutes
earlier by beating goalkeeper Jackie Burns at her near post with a low,
left-footed drive after right-back Abbie Magee was caught well out of position.
Hegerberg, the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner, did squander
two chances to extend the lead, including being denied a tap-in by Magee’s
last-ditch block.
But Norway’s third goal did come in the 31st minute
from the penalty spot after Nadene Caldwell handled the ball in her own box
following an inswinging corner. Caroline Graham Hansen netted from the spot
beyond the fingertips of the diving Burns.
There was one bright spot for Northern Ireland four
minutes into the second half when Julie Nelson scored for the competition’s
lowest-ranked team. The 37-year-old defender, who started playing when her
country did not even have a women’s national team, headed into the net when
Norway messed up clearing a corner.
But Guro Reiten restored the three-goal advantage in
the 54th minute by catching out Burns from a low, 20-yard (meter) free kick.
An offside flag later denied Hegerberg from scoring
on her tournament return after a self-imposed five-year exile from playing for
a country because of what she perceived to be a general disregard for the
women’s game in Norway.
“I’ve dealt with pressure for so many years now,”
the Lyon striker said. “That’s what keeps me going and what makes me perform as
well.”
After featuring in a Euro 2017 campaign that ended
in the group stage, Hegerberg missed the 2019 World Cup as her country lost to
England in the quarterfinals.
Now Norway has the early edge in Euro 2022 Group A
over England after the host nation could only open with a 1-0 win over Austria
on Wednesday. England and two-time European champion Norway meet in Brighton on
Monday.
“If everything was perfect today, we would have
nowhere to go for the rest of the tournament,” Graham Hansen said. “We
just want to keep working and try to learn from our mistakes, and we have a
good chance to do that against England.”
Norway coach Martin Sjögren was hoping for more than
the three goals in the first half.
“We got a bit sloppy and we can’t be that in a big
tournament because then you will get punished, which we did,” he said.
“But then we bounced back quite quickly, so I’m very very happy with our
form.”
For Northern Ireland it was an improvement on being
routed 6-0 twice by Norway in qualifying.
“We restricted them to not many chances in the
second half and built on things,” Nelson told the BBC after becoming the oldest
player to score at a Women’s European Championship. “We made ourselves hard to
beat.”
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