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Although the Norwegian national emergency team did not win, they sometimes surprised Austria. Then the tribute stone flowed.
Ghayas Zahid scored the leading goal for Norway. Photograph: LUDVIG THUNMAN / BILDBYRÅN
Austria 1-1 Norway
About a day and a half in total. A short workout. A goalkeeper who arrived in a private plane a few hours before the start of the game. Six debutants from the start. Nobody left them a special opportunity. No one particularly pressured them for their expectations. They had everything to gain, nothing to lose.
That was the starting point for Norway’s emergency selection when French referee Benoit Bastien blew the whistle at 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday night.
To Norway’s national emergency team, it almost seemed as if he was the “namesake” police chief, Bastian, who started the game and came up with his familiar lines:
“And by the way, you can do whatever you want.”
The historical score
Because sometimes the newly formed Norwegian team did exactly what they wanted at the Ernst Happel Stadium.
Like when Bastien’s clock read 61 minutes. Jørgen Strand Larsen stunned the ball further from a throw-in. Veton Berisha won the ball and got it with difficulty and barely put it at 45 degrees on the field. Zahid de Ghaya stormed in and put the ball at his feet.
0-1.
And Zahid will always be the first goal scorer for Norway’s most unlikely team in history.
– It’s so deserved, exclaimed TV 2 expert Brede Hangeland without exaggeration.
But as true as the national emergency team had no pressure, the conditions were also:
For Norway to win the Nations League group and have a chance to play a World Cup tiebreaker, they had to win the match with all but 0-1 results.
Ghayas Zahid applauds after setting the leadership goal for Norway. Photograph: LUDVIG THUNMAN / BILDBYRÅN
Exciting ending
The Austrians knew it too. With 0-1, they were the ones who wanted to win the group. Therefore, they also pushed.
Just ten minutes after Norway’s goal came his biggest chance. Substitute Adrian Grbic had to finish from a few meters, but with a tiger jump Per Kristian Bråtveit in the goal of Norway saved the ball with the most noble parts.
Ultimately, the Norwegian players clearly got tired, so temporary national team manager Leif Gunnar Smerud had to make several changes. So many that in the end it was midfielder Kristian Thorstvedt and right-back Andreas Vindheim who made up the pair of Norwegian strikers.
With no strikers on the field and many tired legs, Norway never managed to create the great chances to score the decisive goal that had given the group victory.
Instead, it was Austria who put the tie in overtime at Grbic. Thus, the match ended 1-1, and Norway finished second in their Nations League group.
– They made a heroic effort that they can be proud of for the rest of their lives, Hangeland said after the game.
Andreas Vindheim is a daily right-back for Sparta Prague. In the national emergency team, he had to enter as a forward for a finished Veton Berisha. Photograph: LUDVIG THUNMAN / BILDBYRÅN
Receive tribute in unison
Both during and after the game, many people paid tribute to the Norwegian team.
“Many thanks to the fantastic Norwegian team,” writes Culture Minister Abid Raja. Twitter.
“This is so beautiful,” believes Eurosport commentator Kenneth Fredheim.
“Congratulations on a fantastic match. All Norway applauds », writes the top scorer of the Elite Series Amahl Pellegrino.
– There was a lot to enjoy here. I hardly even expected something like this, Egil “Drillo” Olsen said on the TV 2 broadcast.
The temporary director of the national team, Leif Gunnar Smerud, was also proud after the match.
– I’m very, very proud of this. I hope the players are too. They fulfilled above expectations, he said in an interview on TV 2.
Tonight’s captain Mats Møller Dæhli was moved after the match about what the team had achieved.
– This was a sick experience. The spark and the morale that we show … I am incredibly proud. Of course, it’s strange that we don’t win, but I don’t know if we could have done much more. I’m so proud, he said in an interview with TV 2.
Surprised from the start
That they were tired legs in the end was very understandable. Already from the starting blocks they launched the attack. Only after 45 seconds, Jørgen Strand Larsen had a good chance with a shot from 16 meters, but the attempt was too successful.
A minute later, Norway got the first corner kick of the night. Two minutes later, a new one arrived. And the fact is, Austria was shaken by the strong Norwegian start.
The Austrians got back into the game, but after just over half an hour Strand Larsen was suddenly left alone. Only a great save by Pavao Pervan in the Austrian cage prevented the 20-year-old from scoring his first goal for the national team on his debut.
Then, after 36 minutes, it was Jørgen Skjelvik’s turn to test Pervan without the ball going into the net. And when Bastien blew the whistle again, this time before half-time, it was possible to say that the Norwegian emergency team had been closer to scoring than the Austrian first team.
– Heroic effort, concluded Brede Hangeland, TV 2 expert, and summed up well what everyone with Norwegian eyes saw.
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