Norway cruised above Northern Ireland in Belfast and Stavanger and won by tennis points en route to a superb group win. Northern Ireland still qualified for their first final by pinching 2nd place ahead of Wales and beating Ukraine in the two-room final.

It is understandable if Norway looks up and sees the games against England and Austria, who are real rivals in the battle for the quarter-finals place. nei man.

– Northern Ireland has taken great strides recently. They have received better support from their association, and the players train together. “This is the opening match in the European Championship, and we don’t take it lightly,” Maren Mjelde told NTB during a warm-up for the European Championships in Oslo.

– There are no easy opponents anymore, and especially not in the European Championship play-offs, where there are only good teams. At the previous World Cup, seven of the eight quarter-finalists were from Europe. “I think everyone agrees that every game in our group will be difficult,” said Guro Reiten.

Far behind

That said, it cannot be assumed that it is the worst EC-ranked nation awaiting the Norwegian team at Southampton. Northern Ireland is number 47 in the FIFA rankings, 17 places behind Portugal which has the second worst ranking of the playoffs.

Norway’s World Cup qualifiers Belgium (who were beaten 4-0 at Ullevaal last fall) have met all of Norway’s group rivals during the European Championship round – last month. It was a 0-3 loss to England and a 0-1 loss to Austria, but a 4-1 win over Northern Ireland.

Caroline Graham Hansen scored a total of five goals and one assist in two 6-0 wins against Northern Ireland in 2019, while Reiten contributed with two goals and three assists.

– We had two good experiences against them, but it started a while ago. A lot has happened to the Northern Ireland team since then. We respect our opponents, national team manager Martin Sjögren told NTB.

Tough time

While Norway come into the European Championship with a five-game winning streak behind them, four of them against a significantly higher side than Northern Ireland, England have lost their last four matches by a total of 2-13.

They also have a non-sporting challenge in the run-up. National team manager Kenny Shiels took the storm when, after a 5-0 loss against England in a World Cup qualifier in April, he explained some of the setbacks by the fact that women are more sensitive than men and more easily affected by adversity.

He had to apologize for that statement. Friction occurred again when Southampton’s Ciara Watling last week claimed that the message of his destruction in the European Cup squad was conveyed through social media. Shiels stated in a statement on the guild website that those who were crushed from the brute force had been notified in person.

Heavy investment

At the same time, Mjelde is right that the Football Association of Northern Ireland has taken action to prepare the team for what awaits at the European Championship. Over the past seven months, 22 domestic players have played full-time football under the auspices of the association and trained together. 15 of them have earned a place in the EC squad, the rest are foreign professionals.

The Northern Irish can also count on solid stands support. They played all three of their games at Southampton, and despite the Watling defeat, they have Southampton players in the squad at Laura Rafferty.

– In the European Championship, everyone will be very prepared, and you have to be on top of every game. We will take one game at a time. There is nothing wrong with underestimating them, said Ingrid Syrstad Engen to NTB.

Norway has no intention of trying to run away from the favorite role in Thursday’s game.

– If we look at the conditions, of course this is a game we want to win. “If we go up to the level I know we have then we have a good chance,” said Sjögren.

– I think it’s good that a team like Northern Ireland is taking a step up and offering tougher opposition. Then it’s up to us to show we’re still a little bit better, says Reiten.