Day 6: The Real Housewives of Oslo
Norwegian drama, Filipino joy and Colombian stocks on the rise
Switzerland 0 - Norway 0
You’ve got to give it to the Norwegians. A nation described by their manager as effectively too small to do well at the World Cup. Their best player warning journalists that expectations were too high. Well it is worth having high expectations for them, at least when it comes to their ability to completely blow up at a tournament.
This game was must-win for the Norwegians - a lifeline having been handed to them by New Zealand losing to the Philippines before this match. Manager Hege Riise altered her midfield from the one that had lost the opening match by replacing Ingrid Engen with Vilde Boe Risa as well as changing both her wingers. Emilie Haavi replaced Julie Blakstad on the left with Amalie Eikeland - formerly of Reading - replacing Caroline Graham Hansen on the right.
The decision to drop Graham Hansen was, to put it bluntly, astounding. She is one of only a handful of players at the World Cup who truly have the ability to create something out of nothing, and single handedly win her team a match. Meanwhile leaving Guro Reiten in midfield as an 8 continues to be a woeful use of her talents.
Things got even stranger when Ada Hegerberg promptly walked off the pitch just before kick off to be replaced by Sophie Roman Haug. Hegerberg had supposedly picked up an injury in the final sprints of the warm up, but the confusion on her teammates faces was clear to see.
The match itself was the sort of game that we have become familiar with from a Norway perspective. Switzerland were happy to let them have possession, sitting comfortably in a mid-block, and Norway struggled to get the ball into dangerous areas. They were very fixed - for example, playing Haavi and Reiten on the same side of the pitch could have been a great opportunity for the two to interchange and allow Reiten to pick up some of the positions we have seen her be so effective in for Chelsea, but there was very little of that kind of movement. Bar a duo of strong saves from the Swiss goalkeeper Gaëlle Thalmann, Norway created little.
The Swiss themselves were very savvy when they won back the ball. Content just to pass it around and conserve energy, they only looked to attack when the opportunity presented itself, feeling no need to force the match when they already had three points. It was a tactic that relies on them not losing to New Zealand in the final group game, but puts them in the strongest position in this group.
Colombia 2 - South Korea 0
Colombia’s meeting with South Korea in Group H marked the end of the first round of group-stage fixtures, as well as offering the opportunity for both teams to lay down a marker in terms of coming second in this group. Based on Colombia’s performance, they might fancy themselves for an even better finish than that with South Korea mistakes handing them a comfortable win.
Linda Caicedo had dominated the headlines before the match and will dominate the reaction, scoring her first World Cup goal after the South Korean keeper Yoon Young-Geul spilled a shot that should have been a comfortable save. Caicedo shone throughout the match, particularly when she switched to the left hand side, enabling her to cut in neatly on her right foot. However, it was Mayra Ramirez who really set the tone for Colombia in a match which was heavily influenced by Colombia’s dominance when it came to 50:50s.
Whilst a lot of Ramirez’s dribbles higher up the pitch were unsuccessful, her attempts moved South Korea out of their deeper block, opening up space for other players, as well as winning a number of fouls. Whilst the only piece the Colombians scored from was a penalty, they did look dangerous from free-kicks.
For the South Koreans, the decision to go for a safety first approach limited them. Colombia made sure that the dangerous Ji So-Yun was well-marshalled and found it far too easy to win the long-balls that the Koreans were looking to play. As the game went on, South Korea struggled to find the space available on the pitch with the Colombians getting so tight to them because they were reluctant to move away from playing their low defensive line. In the end, they never really looked like getting back into this one.
New Zealand 0 - Philippines 1
Well we finally have a World Cup debutant win. The Philippines shocked New Zealand with a 1-0 win thanks to a Sarina Bolden header that the Football Ferns just could not seem to recover from. New Zealand went into this match as favourites, knowing a win could potentially qualify them for the knockout stage if other results went their way. However, given that New Zealand had to come from a goal down to win 2-1 the last time they played them, the two sides were a lot more evenly matched than some outsiders seemed to think
New Zealand started really well. They looked confident passing the ball around and were totally dominant in the opening 15 minutes, as they looked to try and break the Filipino offside trap. They looked to make the most of the wide areas of the pitch, with the Philippines defending in a very narrow 4-4-2.
But as the game went on and got more scrappy, New Zealand gave away a couple of silly free-kicks, including the one Bolden eventually scored from, and once the goal went in they seemed unable to refind their focus. The passing was sloppy, they lost their shape as they all got drawn to the ball, and it was far too easy for the Philippines to defend their straight crosses. The introduction of Olivia Chance at half time looked to have an initial impact but even she trailed off as the Ferns got more frustrated. Jacqui Hand’s goal being ruled offside due to a tight call against Hannah Wilkinson seemed to be the final straw, and the platform they had given themselves in the win over Norway sadly faded away. It is not over for them yet - a win over Switzerland would send them through - but it has certainly got a lot harder.