Football EM: Norway 0:8 for ÖFB also warns

“You should not be deceived by the result, they still have one of the best offensive divisions in Europe,” said Karina Weininger on Tuesday, for example, who would have lost a few goals. “As a big country, they definitely don’t want to be naked again,” the 31-year-old suspects the two-time European champion now has an excessive drive to compensate, even if after 0:8 “as an athlete you can be really depressed”.

Team leader Erin Furman agreed with her experienced player. “The result was not expected at this level. I played number eight against the world number 11. But something like that can happen when I remember the 2014 World Cup, where Germany beat very well Brazil,” said the 41-year-old. “We know how strong Norway is and how this defeat started – with what I think is a cheap penalty. We have to work very hard on Friday.”

Surprise is limitless all around, after all, Norway is not just a player in women’s football. Only Italy has participated in the European Championship 12 out of 13 times. After record-winning Germany (8), they were the only ones to win the title more than once. The wins were some time ago (1987, 1993), in 2017 they were eliminated from the group stage, but the 4-1 win over Northern Ireland at the start showed their quality over long stretches.

Norway licking its wounds

“We really got off to a good start, then we conceded the first goal and after that England had a clear path. This is unacceptable,” said Norwegian star Ada Hegerberg. “The defeat throws us hard on the ground, but we still have to keep our heads,” the winner demanded. Champions League from Olympique Lyonnais, which together with Caroline Graham Hansen (Barcelona) and Guru Retten (Chelsea) is one of Europe’s most dangerous attacks” (WENNinger).

On the other hand, the defense was completely overwhelmed in front of almost 30,000 spectators in Brighton. “It was difficult to defend spaces and our square, it was a hard day. We are all in these difficulties together,” Hegerberg, who did not look for any excuses, said. “Everyone feels devastated. I’m so sorry for the players who lost 8-0 in a match we’ve been looking forward to for so long,” said team boss Martin Sjoergen. At first I played well. “The remaining 85 minutes were horrible, it was a horrible evening,” said the 45-year-old. .

Sjörgen does not comply with requests to resign

In the proud nation of women’s soccer, this historic embarrassment was naturally the topic of the day. On the evening of the match, TV2 spoke about “one of the darkest nights in the history of the national team.” The next day, the biggest European Championship defeat ever was the front-page lead of one of the biggest dailies (“VG”). However, Sjörgen did not comply with requests to resign. “I’m not the one to go when there are headwinds. I don’t have any ideas or thoughts of retiring. That would be very cowardly,” said the team boss, who is from Sweden.

“I’m glad we got England already”

Wenniger was glad that the “lionesses” had already duel at first. “When I saw the England national team yesterday, I was really happy to have them in the first match,” said the defender, who is the record player for Bayern Munich but will be loaned to Roma after the European Championship at her request.

Austria did well initially against a sold-out house at Old Trafford, conceding only one goal. The match test results of the coach’s undefeated team, Sarina Wegmann, proved that this is not normal. 5-1 against defending champions Holland, 4-0 in Switzerland. Also in these cases, they overcome opponents within a few minutes.

ÖFB was checked off offensively at 0:1, but at least they didn’t allow any more goals. Zero against Northern Ireland. If you can do that against Norway, you’re done. Outside I saw opportunities to inflict pain on the Norwegians. You also know that you can improve in matches against good teams. “The fact that we’ve seen that we can keep up with the big countries, it boosts our confidence a lot,” Weininger, who reached the semi-finals with the team in 2017 at the premiere, said. It is also clear: “We will need improvement in all areas.”

Austria does not play for a draw

After a one-day break, Austria prepares for the promotion final. Foreman doesn’t care that a draw could mean entering the second quarter-final. “Nothing changes in preparation. We want to play to win, you can’t plan for a draw,” the team boss said on Tuesday. “The basis is that we are working very well defensively. If we could keep zero, that would be desirable. But I am convinced that we can catch Norway on the wrong foot in one situation or another ”, she hopes for the success of the twitch.