A 0-1 loss may not sound so brutal in itself. But behind it hides a statistic that is much more disturbing than the result in itself. The Norwegian players struggled to find each other, which resulted in numbers that news’s football expert cannot remember having seen before. – We had a higher passing percentage against England last year in the EC when we lost 8-0. That says quite a lot, says Carl Erik Torp. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Unusually low For context: Norway usually has a hit percentage of around 75. And in the crushing loss to England in the EC, it was 73 per cent. The passing percentage – i.e. the proportion of them hitting each other with the passes – against New Zealand in the World Cup opener was 59.55. – What do you think about that number? – That says a lot about the performance then, individually. It is terribly low, unusually low. I can hardly remember that Norway has been below 70 per cent in passing accuracy, says Torp. – That says a bit about how much sloppiness there was in that match here. And then it is compounded with how the match turned out and the premise for the players. They are in a difficult situation where they are unable to gain more control of the ball. – Not shocked Ingrid Syrstad Engen played centrally in the midfield in the shock loss against New Zealand. When she hears the number at the press conference the day after the match, she nods her head. – That’s exactly how it feels out there in a way. I’m not shocked that we have that number. It’s too bad. That is where I also feel the problem lies. We don’t find each other, we don’t hit each other and then it becomes terribly difficult, when we have the opportunity to win the ball and set someone up and then lose it immediately, she says. THE NEXT DAY: Ingrid Syrstad Engen answered questions from the press the day after the match against New Zealand, where she herself got two points on news’s player exchange. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB When compared to the crushing match against England last year, she nevertheless points out a difference. – I don’t have the same feeling that we might be outplayed and struggle a lot in the defensive structure, but more with the ball that I am disappointed that we are not able to make better use of it. When we never manage to take care of the ball, there is a very bad feeling out there too. It should be said that in the aforementioned England match, Norway had less possession of the ball. At the time, Norway had 298 pass attempts. Against New Zealand, the corresponding number was 349. Nor does the national team manager seem to be shocked by the number presented by news. – It shows that we were stressed. That we weren’t comfortable enough with the ball and didn’t read each other as well as we usually do. We have good ball players, who then became hesitant. Hence little rhythm in our game and all 50-50 situations then went to New Zealand, says Hege Riise. Nervous For championship debutant Mathilde Harviken, it may not have been the debut of her dreams, and she says that the thoughts she had ahead of time may have had something to do with her numbers. NERVES: Mathilde Harviken felt championship nerves against New Zealand. Photo: MARTY MELVILLE / AFP – So I can say for my own part that I was very determined to make it easy before the game, so it turned out that I … I don’t know how many throws I gave yesterday, but it became more clear than trying to find a teammate while I was a bit unsure, says Harviken. – Why did it happen like that? – I was a bit nervous and that was what I had thought a little extra about, that I should make it simple. Don’t take too many risks during the match so as not to make it too easy for New Zealand. PS. Norway plays its next World Cup match against Switzerland on Tuesday 25 July at 10.00.
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– Terribly low – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
