I was really fired up to see the mother country in action as Norway, one of the world's top teams, took on the manic Australian side I'd seen jump up and down on Ghana. Especially after the opening goal I thought Norway was going to dominate this game in style, after they broke down the Aussies with overlapping runs into the box and tight, perfectly timed passing to set up this total “We're better, fuck you” goal finished off by Ragnhild Gulbrandsen. Norway's traditional style of play has been very direct using long passes to get past defenders, and this was a new look for them.
The Matildas didn't give up without a fight though, and kept banging away at the Norwegians, getting more of the run of play. Their strategy apparently involved resting star strikers in the first half, and bringing them on for fresh legs late in the game. The last time I remember seeing a line-up turn into such an attack machine so fast was in Euro2000 when France finished the final with a line-up full of strikers and attacking midfielders described as something out of a Nintendo game, but it worked for them, and it worked for Australia too when a long free kick brought Norway too far forward, and Lisa de Vanna took the clearance deep into Norwegian territory. The Norwegian back line raced back ahead of her, passing her and turning to get organized but found De Vanna pivoting to use them as a screen and set up a shot to the upper right corner that gave Norway's keeper no chance to get a hand on it. The Matildas kept going for the win, but the draw was good enough to leave them on top of Group C with a cushion going into their decisive game against Canada. The Norwegians can't be feeling too bad about their chances, since Ghana has been terrible, but today's result may pair them up with Brazil in the quarters.
Australia 1 - 1 Norway
'5 Gulbrandsen
'83 De Vanna
Australia 4pts +3
Norway 4pts +1
Canada 3pts +3
Ghana 0pts -7
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