EC qualifier in Rotterdam, November 15, 1995 ============================================ Netherlands - Norway 3-0 (0-0) Feyenoord stadium Att: 49 000 1-0 Clarence Seedorf (47) 2-0 Youri Mulder (89) 3-0 Marc Overmars (90) Referee: D Gallagher, England. Yellow card: F de Boer (14), Seedorf (51), Netherlands, Rekdal, Norway. Line-ups -------- Netherlands (4-3-3): E van der Sar - D Blind - M Reiziger, F de Boer, A Numan - C Seedorf, D Bergkamp (Y Mulder from 79.), R Witschge (E Davids from 56.) - M Overmars, R de Boer, G Helder (J de Kock from 86.). Norway (4-5-1): F Grodås - K P Løken (A I Håland from 62.), H Berg, E Johnsen, S I Bjørnebye - T A Flo, E Mykland (Ø Leonhardsen from 59.), K Rekdal, L Bohinen (S Solbakken from 82.), J I Jakobsen - J Å Fjørtoft. Other results and final table in group 5 ---------------------------------------- 95.11.12: Malta - Belarus 0-2 95.11.15: Czech Republic - Luxembourg 3-0 Czech Republic 10 6 3 1 21 - 6 21 ----------------------------------------------- Netherlands 10 6 2 2 23 - 5 20 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Norway 10 6 2 2 17 - 7 20 Belarus 10 3 2 5 8 - 13 11 Luxembourg 10 3 1 6 3 - 21 10 Malta 10 0 2 8 2 - 22 2 Match report ------------ Norway crashed out of the European championships yesterday after this heavy defeat in Rotterdam. The win for the home team was deserved, but the winning margin was far too big as the two last goal came in the last minute, when Norway pressed forward sending almost every player forward in search for the equalizer. 2-1 would have been a much better reflection of the game. The game itself was almost a replay of the away game in Prague two months ago. Norway went out to defend the own goal, allowing the opposition all the play. When the home team got the lead, Norway showed that they are capable of playing some good football and creating some half-chances, but nothing more. Then, a few minutes from the end the home team scored the second goal and the game is over. Such was the story against the Czechs and such was the story yesterday. Basically, what Norway lack is the creativity and ability to score against the better nations. We do manage to score against the minnows, but when it comes to the big boys, the Norwegian team at present are simply not good enough. That's the way it is, and nobody can deny that. Having said that, it must be added that once more luck was not on our side, and hasn't been through this whole EC campaign. Because, I don't believe we played any better in the WC qualification, but we had the little extra luck in vital games, which we didn't have this time. A good example of that was the first and decisive Dutch goal yesterday. A through-ball towards Seedorf is slightly overhit, but somehow Johnsen's clearance hits the Dutchman on his thigh, and gets a lucky deflection over Grodås in goal. One of the flukiest goals I've seen in a long time. Not that the 1-0 lead was unjustified. Up until that time the Dutch had a clear domination, but they never managed to create very good opportunites, and rarely tested the Norwegian goalkeeper as the Norwegian team defended very well. In attack though, the Norwegians were (as usual) not very courageous, and hardly managed a shot on goal in the first half. After the goal, Norway pressed more and more forward as the time passed, changing to a 4-4-2 formation with Flo joining Fjørtoft up front, then to a 3-5-2 as Håland replaced Løken. In the last five minutes even defender Johnsen joined the attack, leaving Norway with an adventurous 2-5-3 formation in search for the equalizer. However, only 2-3 decent chances were created. The best falling to Fjørtoft, who completely free in the Dutch penalty area headed just over after an excellent pass by Håland. An equalizer there, and Norway would probably have gone to Anfield, as only 5 minutes remained of the game at that stage. Instead, the Netherlands scored two late goals on a deserted Norwegian defence in the dying seconds. Thus, it's the Dutch which qualified for the play-off game against Ireland on December 13. Of the players, none played a bad game, but some were better than others. Though, the result wouldn't have been any different had Norway changed players on some positions. In goal, Grodås played a good game, especially in the first half when the Dutch pressed Norway back. Someone would argue he could have been wrong-positioned and too far out on the first goal, and but I don't agree with that. In defence, Bjørnebye had an excellent game, containing Overmars for 89 minutes. As far as I can recall, the Dutch winger wasn't allowed to cross the ball once from his right side position! On the other side, though, Løken had much more trouble with Helder, as his speed and pace on the ball was often to much for the RBK-player. To his defence, it must be said that the help from midfield was much better from Mini on the left than Flo on the right. In the middle both Johnsen and especially Berg had good games. The situation leading to the first goal can only be described as bad luck in my opinion, although perhaps a more techically skilled player than Johnsen would not have chosen a gliding tackle in order to clear the ball. In midfield, the biggest disappointment was Bohinen. He never managed to make his present felt, especially after starting very badly with some missed passes. As he is probably the most creative Norwegian player, his bad game strongly influenced the Norwegian offensive play. Mykland was better, but neither he managed to contribute offensively. Rekdal was the best, but as his main objective is defense, not offense, that didn't do any good for the attack. To sum it up, the lack of creative midfielders was the major difference between the two sides. Of the two players playing wide on the flanks, Flo was a revelation in my opinion. He has everything that his cousin, Jostein, doesn't and was perhaps the only Norwegian player who managed to take on and beat the Dutch players. He even won a lot of headers on the long balls usually aimed at Jostein. I was very impressed with him in this game, although he didn't help Løken too much defensively. For Mini it was the other way around. Good on defense, but useless in attack, especially as he met a player (Reizinger) who is just as fast as him. And when you take away his speed, Mini doesn't have much more to offer. In attack Fjørtoft had a very good game as well. His first touches were always excellent and his close control and guarding of the balk with a defender on his toes was very accurate. He also won most of the balls in the air, and was a constant threat to the Dutch defense, winning 9 out of 10 duels with Blind and de Boer. In this game he showed what good international forward he has developed into. If only he had been faster and the service from midfield had been better... And especially, if only he had scored with 5 minutes remaining. Of the substitutes, Leonhardsen played a bad game. His ball control eluded him time after time, and although running a lot, it doesn't help much when you don't have the technique to go with it. Håland, though, was positive when coming on, and created a few good chances from his right midfield position. Solbakken didn't make any impact in the 9 minutes he played. With this EC qualification over, and no final round to look forward to, it's time to do some changes in time for the WC qualification round next year. Some of the older, experiences but limited players must go, and some of the younger creative players such as Rudi, Svindal Larsen, Iversen, Solskj{r, Flo, Stavrum, Lundekvam etc., now playing on the Olympic team, must be given their chance. As the Olympic team missed out on qualification on Tuesday, by losing 1-2 to the Dutch after leading 1-0, and then giving away two soft goals on two goal keeping errors, in a game they "only" had to win in order to qualify for the quarterfinals, one can truely say that the last two days have been major disappointing for Norwegian football. Let's hope they can come back in time for the WC qualification round. But in order to do that a new generation of players must be included, players who have speed and technique to match the best of the other national teams, and not only know how to defend in a very organized way. Such players exist. Drillo, let them be given a chance to prove themselves!