We turn the clock back to June 2022. Emilie Haavi was absolutely certain that she would be selected for the EC squad. She had trained well, been part of the national team since her debut as a 17-year-old in 2010 and had 92 international matches. But then national team manager Martin Sjögren could not find a place for Haavi in the squad. It was a hard blow for the attacking player. It was one of the biggest downturns in his career, and it came at the worst possible time. She had signed for Roma half a year earlier, but struggled to settle in Italy. She had not yet learned the language and had some injury problems. All in all, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to continue. – I realized that maybe it was time to give up. I had to go a few rounds with myself, she says. – The national team had been a part of my life for twelve years, so you feel in a way that you are being fired from your job. It came as a bit of a surprise, I must say. That whole summer I went without motivation and just thought it was crazy. VETERAN: Emilie Haavi is among the most experienced in the national team. She is the third oldest in the Norwegian WC squad. Photo: Rodrigo Freitas / NTB But time heals all wounds, they say. Because if we fast forward one year, to June 2023, everything looks different. Must pinch himself the Italy pro takes on news in his childhood home at Bekkestua. Cheerful and summer tanned, she opens the door and offers a coffee. Even if it is not quite like where she lives. – It’s probably not quite within Italy. It should ideally be a bit more orderly there, she says while steering with an espresso capsule. She has lived in Italy since December 2021. Then she signed for Roma. – I chose Italy because I knew it would be very different from what I was used to in Norway, says Haavi. She doesn’t just mean the coffee. After several years in Røa and LSK Kvinner, plus an unsuccessful stay in the American Boston Breakers, the time had come for a new adventure abroad. – After winning everything there was, I felt a bit full after several years in the Toppserien, she says. No female soccer player has won more titles in Norwegian soccer than Haavi (18). Only one player, regardless of gender, has several titles. It is Roar Strand (21). GOLD WHOLESALER: Emilie Haavi with a gold hat after becoming series champion with LSK in 2014. She won the Toppserien nine times. Photo: Vegard Wivestad Grøtt / NTB One thing she hasn’t had enough of is coffee. She drinks more now than before, she says. And it comes in handy, because sometimes it seems like she’s living in a dream. – I have to pinch myself a little from time to time. It’s a very nice life. – Couldn’t give me Haavi is seriously in the national team heat again and has just been selected in Norway’s World Cup squad for the championships in Australia and New Zealand. She is also a fresh Serie A champion with Roma, who won their first ever “Scudetto” this season. The 31-year-old was named the season’s best player. It is not an everyday occurrence to go from EC wrecking and potential career stoppage to league champion and such a prize. The gigantic downturn was the turning point for Haavi. – I decided not to spend any more energy on the national team. Just focus on what I do every day. Because at the end of the day, it is more important that I enjoy the club day than that I have a national team meeting every now and then, she says, and adds: – It was a bit like that that I couldn’t give up. I didn’t want anyone to take that choice away from me. I want to give in with a good feeling. ROMA STARS: Emilie Haavi (in white) in action against Barcelona in the Meisterliga. Photo: LLUIS GENE / AFP Player of the season Since then it has only gone one way. She learned Italian and got in better contact with both the support system and her teammates. She got more and more into the style of play and started to enjoy the weekdays again. She believes it was decisive for her getting into the national team heats again. Norway’s World Cup selection will probably be best remembered for the brawl of including a player who was not selected. But for Haavi, it was confirmation of how well things have gone over the past year. DREAM START: Emilie Haavi decided in her first World Cup match for Norway. She scored Norway’s only goal in the victory over Equatorial Guinea in 2011. Photo: CHRISTOF STACHE / AFP After the match, national team coach Hege Riise told news that she had been impressed by Haavi in ”The Eternal City”. – She has received a boost in the form of becoming a leader for a Roma team that had never won the series. And he was the player of the year in Italy. It is strong. I think she has delivered well, and she is an experienced and positive player in the group. Now the motivation is at its peak and Haavi is fully prepared for the upcoming WC. It will be her fourth WC with Norway, and she hopes it will have a better outcome than in 2019. The championship in France came to an abrupt end for Haavi. In Norway’s opening match against Nigeria, she only got a couple of minutes on the court. A few days later, he tore the cruciate ligament during training. A broken Haavi went home to rehabilitate. VONBROTEN: Emilie Haavi tore her cruciate ligament in training during the 2019 WC and had to go home. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB – Norway can surprise She got to see her teammates make it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, but that’s where it stopped. A 0-3 loss for England sent the rest of the Norwegian team home. Now she warns the competitors and says that Norway can surprise in New Zealand and Australia. – I think we have untapped potential. If we get it together, we can really surprise. We have an extremely good number of players at all levels. But you don’t win a championship as an individual player. One depends on the team working, she says. For Haavi, most things now work. Although not everything is quite right when she speaks Italian, she masters the language. She lives and lives well and feels that for the first time she is really relaxing. The good performances led to a new contract with Roma. And now she is excitedly ready for her fourth WC with Norway. – Things look very different now than a year ago, she smiles.
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