REIMS, France — Goals from Guro Reiten and Lisa Marie Utland, plus a Nigeria own goal, gave Norway a 3-0 victory Saturday night to open the Women’s World Cup.
“It’s always very exciting to play in a World Cup, and the first five to 10 minutes are a bit chaotic, things are going to happen very fast,” Guro said through a translator after the match. “After that, we get into the game ad everything goes very well.
“I really want a medal, but we have many hard matches in front of us. But we will try to do everything we can and play our best.”
Norway played without 2018 FIFA Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg, who stopped playing for the national team because of concerns the women’s team in Norway is not treated equally to the men.
When asked if Hegerberg’s absence now allows other players to shine, Norway manager Martin Sjögren said, “I don’t know. I think now we have the players we have and we’ve been working so hard as a group. Caroline [Graham Hansen] and Guro, they have been very, very good for us for a very long time, so I’m not surprised these two make such a good performance today.”
Reiten and Utland scored in the 17th and 34th minutes, respectively. And Nigeria’s Osinachi Ohale scored an own goal in minute 37, when she raced toward the net after Norway got behind the back line, stuck her leg out and directed the opponent’s shot into the net.
Nigeria also took another hit in the 51st minute, when defender Faith Michael was stretchered off after a collision with her goalkeeper. Michael was later taken to the hospital for an MRI on her knee, according to Nigeria coach Thomas Dennerby.
Norway and Nigeria are in Group A, along with host France, which beat South Korea 4-0 in the tournament opener Friday night in Paris. Norway knows its next match June 12 against France, a favorite to win it all, will be a difficult test.
“It will be a different match against France, but we have a clear plan for how we’re going to meet France,” Sjögren said. “We know it’s going to be tough, but we have a very good team, so I think we’ll handle the different types of their playing style as well.”