EC qualifier in Luxembourg, March 29, 1995
==========================================
Luxembourg - Norway 0-2 (0-1)
Stade Josy Barthel
Att: 3100
0-1 Øyvind Leonhardsen (35)
0-2 Gunnar Aase (77)
Referee: Nikolaj Levnikov, Russia.
Yellow card: Ralph Ferron (41), Carlo Weis (74), Luxembourg, Jostein Flo (16),
Kjetil Rekdal (20), Norway.
Red card: Ferron (71), Luxembourg.

Line-ups
--------
  Luxembourg (4-4-2): Serge Rohmann - Carlo Weis - Ralph Ferron, 
Jean Vanek, Jeff Strasser - Manuel Cardoni, Marc Birsens (Sascha 
Schneider from 84.), Jeff Saibene (Patrick Feyder from 77.), Frank 
Deville - Roby Langers, Joel Groff.

  Norway (4-5-1): Erik Thorstvedt - Alf-Inge Håland, Henning Berg, 
Ronny Johnsen, Stig Inge Bjørnebye - Jostein Flo (Gunnar Aase from 
46.), Lars Bohinen, Kjetil Rekdal (Ståle Solbakken from 83.), 
Øyvind Leonhardsen, Jahn Ivar Jakobsen - Jan Åge Fjørtoft.


Other matches in group 5
------------------------
Czech Republic - Belarus 4-2
Netherlands - Malta 4-0

         Team         Pl   W  D  L   GF  GA  Pt
      1. Norway        5   4  1  0    9   1  13
      2. Netherlands   5   3  2  0   14   1  11
      3. Czech Rep.    4   2  2  0   10   3   8
      4. Belarus       4   1  0  3    4   9   3
      5. Luxembourg    5   1  0  4    1  13   3
      6. Malta         5   0  1  4    1  12   1
 

Match report
------------
Another solid away performance aganist one of the lesser nations in
Europe. It started rather slowly, and the first goal eluded Norway until the
35th minute. The best chance in that first half hour went to Bohinen, who 
dribbled two L'bourg players on the touchline, but then also decided to
shoot past the keeper instead of passing to a teammate for an easy tap-in.
Then, ten minutes from time, Haaland sent in a good cross (for a change :-(),
which Leonhardsen met on the far post and just steared it past Rohrmann, the
L goalkeeper. That goal settled the nerves, but the play was still erratic,
even though Norway were completely dominant. Immedietaly after the goal it
started snowing(!) heavily, and by halftime the field was white as in an 
icehockey rink, and almost as slippery. 

Fortunately, the snowing stopped after a while, otherwise the match could 
easily have been abandoned, because the conditions became _very_ difficult.
After the break Jostein Flo, who had been having a quiet game and also being 
booked (and almost sent off), was replaced by the debutant, Gunnar Aase of
Viking. He didn't make an instant impact, instead it was Luxembourg which
had their best spell of the match. However, they were restricted to one
good shot, which went straight at Thorstvedt. Nevertheless, the signs were
worrying, as the lead was still only by one goal. 

Then, Fjortoft was sent clean through by Haaland. He hesitated, but somehow
sent the ball to Leo, who stormed into the penalty area, where he was
literally run over by one of the Luxembourg defenders. A clear penalty.
The defender was also given a yellow card. Unfortunately for him, he had 
already been booked in the first half for a professional foul on 'Mini' 
(should perhaps have been sent off then), so off he went. However, the
normally reliable Rekdal missed the penalty kick, when he shot straight
at the goalkeeper. 

The expulsion lifted Norway, though. Few minutes later Bohinen sent Leo 
through on one of his special long runs. Alone against the keeper he just
flicked the ball inside to Aase, who scored into the empty goal. A 
simple, but beautiful goal. After that, the home side gave up, and in
the last 10 minutes the score could and scould have been doubled.
First, Fjortoft missed from 5 meters with only the goalkeeper between him
and the goal, and seconds later the same man placed a beautiful header
on the crossbar. Then, Mini decided that he couldn't be worse, and
also missed alone with the keeper. In addition, there were a few other half
chances that were missed as well. But who cares as long as Norway continue
to win?

Man-of-the-Match was unquestionably Leonhardsen, who was involved in both
goals _and_ the penalty, in addition to his usual phenomonal working rate.
The biggest disappointment was Flo. He looked slow (even slower than usual),
and didn't win that many balls in the air. The Flo-pass is becoming more
and more predictable, as more and more teams are aware of it. Thank God,
he was replaced at half time. Another disappointment was Fjortoft. 
He works hard, but a 1.3 million striker should score when clean through
against the goalkeeper...

The next game is on April 26, again against Luxembourg, but this time
in Oslo. On the very day, the Czech Rep. and Netherlands meet in Prague in
the most important game in the group so far. An away win, or even a draw
would suit Norway the best I think.