WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : SPOTLIGHT : ANALYSIS : Victories by Ireland, Norway Turn Group E Upside-Down

Horned helmets are selling better than ever in the nation’s capital. The sale of sombreros, however, has slumped badly.

Thanks to Norway’s 1-0 victory over Mexico in front of 52,395 sun-baked fans at RFK Stadium on Sunday, the 1994 World Cup’s toughest group suddenly has a very interesting complexion.

Ireland and Norway, teams that were supposed to wilt in the heat, share first place in Group E. Italy and Mexico, teams that were supposed to do well, are in trouble.

The Mexicans did not play badly Sunday afternoon. The Norwegians simply played better and fully earned their first World Cup victory.

There were always going to be two problems for Mexico: how to unlock the packed Norwegian defense and how to stop the larger, physically more intimidating Norwegians when they attacked.

It was not until the last 15 minutes that Mexico began to find a solution to the first problem. The second they handled superbly and courageously the entire game.

Outmanned defensively and outmuscled offensively, the Mexicans played well enough to get a tie. Unfortunately, Norway’s coach, Egil Olsen, found a way to deny them that too.

Olsen chose the perfect moment to make his key substitution, inserting Kjetil Rekdal at precisely the moment Mexico was beginning to take the upper hand.

Having tried without success all afternoon to dribble or dance their way through Norway’s impregnable defense, the Mexicans finally resorted to the long-range shooting they should have tried much earlier.

In the 75th minute, Luis Garcia forced Norwegian goalkeeper Eric Thorstvedt to fling himself to his right and tip a blistering shot around the post. Garcia had been set up by a nice pass from Hugo Sanchez.

One minute later, the Norwegians had another lucky escape when Ignacio Ambriz fired another rocket toward the net, only to see it deflect off the base of the left post.

Mexico’s fans, all too quiet for much of the game, suddenly came alive and the momentum was all with Coach Miguel Mejia Baron’s team.

In stepped Olsen, sending on not another player to paper over the cracks appearing in his defense but rather an attacking midfielder.

Within eight minutes, Rekdal had scored.

The goal should have taken the heart out of Mexico, but still it kept pressing and was very unlucky not to score in the dying seconds.

Instead, when Hungarian referee Sandor Puhl blew the final whistle, Sanchez and company were forced to contemplate yet another defeat. The loss marked the seventh time in 10 World Cup appearances that Mexico has lost its opening match.

Norway’s victory sets up an intriguing clash with dissent-riddled Italy on Thursday at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. That game has all sorts of overtones. It was Italy that defeated Norway, 2-1, in the Norwegians’ only previous World Cup appearance, in 1938. And it was Italy that the Norwegians defeated to deny the Italians a place in the 1992 European Championship.

Mexico, meanwhile, is faced with the prospect of an equally difficult game against high-flying Ireland on Friday in Orlando, Fla.

Neither coach can ask more of his players than they gave Sunday. For Mexico, defender Claudio Suarez gave a Herculean effort in battling Norway’s designated striker, Jan Age Fjortoft, who at 6 feet 3, 192 pounds towered over him. Ambriz directed the defense as efficiently as ever and goalkeeper Jorge Campos was his acrobatic and adventurous self.

On attack, Mexico time and again was thwarted when it tried to use either Luis Roberto Alves on the left wing, Garcia on the right wing or Sanchez up the middle. The openings simply did not materialize as the Norwegians flung themselves into every tackle.

Playing a four-man defense, ably marshaled by captain Rune Bratseth, and a five-man midfield, Norway was seldom pulled out of alignment. The players kept their positions well and the two lines moved as a disciplined unit.

It all added up to a frustrating afternoon for Mexico.

After the last of the Mexican fans had made their unhappy way out of the stadium, the Norwegian fans still were celebrating in the stands, singing, dancing, ringing bells, waving flags and cheering their heroes when they came back out of the locker room to run barefoot victory laps around the field.

The horned Viking helmets were everywhere to be seen. The sombreros had long since disappeared.