Norwegians in Football Ecstasy

August 22, 2007
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Tonight Norwegians are celebrating in (I didn’t say on!) ecstasy after a surprise victory against Argentina in football. My regular readers know I don’t often talk about sports, but winning against a double world champion and a team ranked #2 on FIFA’s table (Norway is ranked 35) call for an extraordinary post. Last time I did it, was when we made a draw against Brazil. On top of that; Norway won because they played the best football so it was a rightful victory. Of course Argentina have great and famous football stars like Rodriguez, Diego Milito and Messi, but Norway has John Carew, a striker who double fired Norway to a surprise 2-1 win.

NorwayFootballTeam
In this pictures (borrowed from ScanPix) you see Carew (#10) and Norway’s biggest football icon: Ole Gunnar Solskjær (#20) – known as the Sunny Boy in Manchester United (he could not play today due to a recent knee surgery).

Carew netted the opener on 12 minutes from the penalty spot. Then the big front man caused the South Americans plenty of problems and he almost struck again when he dribbled past three defenders into Argentina’s penalty area only to have his shot blocked. Argentina pressed after the break but, against the run of play, Carew added a second in the 58th minute when he deftly headed in a free-kick taken by Riise (a Liverpool player). Argentina, playing their first match since a traumatic 3-0 defeat by arch-rivals Brazil in the Copa America final last month, were without play maker Juan Roman Riquelme and defender Gabriel Heinze. With forward Lionel Messi well-shackled by Norway’s defense, it wasn’t until six minutes from time when Argentina pulled a goal back through Maximiliano Rodriguez.
Norway have sprung back from a dreadful start to their UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying campaign and are in a three-way tie for second in Group C behind leaders Greece. Next game on the schedules are against Greece and Turkey in October and November – so stay tuned!

All North American readers will have to excuse all this talk about football while you call it soccer. You see thats what the rest of the world calls it and it’s because this is the kind of game where you actually play with your feet :D

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