U.S. Takes Aim at Top of the World
In the greatest rivalry in women’s soccer, it’s difficult to tell which is the harpoon and which is the whale.
Certainly, the United States has stuck it to Norway at the worst of times--in the final of the first FIFA Women’s World Championship in China in 1991 and in the semifinal of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
But the Norwegians’ aim has been just as true and just as deadly. They sank the Americans in the semifinal of the 1995 World Championship in Sweden and four times have denied the U.S. in its quest to win the annual Algarve Cup in Portugal, the only significant tournament the U.S. has never won.
Now, on the eve of the third FIFA Women’s World Cup, as the quadrennial tournament has come to be called, the two countries are clearing the decks again for a potential winner-take-all final at the Rose Bowl on July 10.
“It’s always special to meet the United States,” Norway Coach Per-Mathias Hogmo said. “They are always tough, tough matches. It’s fair play, but hard. Like it should be in football.”
“I think it is [the best rivalry],” U.S. co-captain Carla Overbeck said. “We can’t get into a rhythm when we play against Norway. They have such a disruptive, direct style of play that we’re never comfortable when we play them.”
The countries have played each other 22 times, first meeting in 1987, and Norway holds an 11-10-1 advantage. The U.S., which won the most recent game, in Portugal in March, leads in goals scored, 36-32.
“I think we have a great amount of respect for them because they are world champions and we’re not,” Overbeck said, adding that she and her teammates nevertheless have no qualms about playing Norway.
“I’m not so sure it’s fear, but we have respect,” she said. “We know we have to be ready every single time we go out and play them. Like in Portugal [in the 1998 Algarve Cup], we weren’t ready and they came out and waxed us, 4-1.”
The teams play contrasting styles, and that only increases the fierceness of the competition between them.
The Americans like to keep the ball on the ground, stroking it around the field, maintaining possession and creating scoring chances by weaving patterns that befuddle their opponents.
The Norwegians can play that style but prefer the direct route to goal, booting the ball upfield whenever they get the chance. It’s less subtle but equally effective.
“We love to compete against each other,” U.S. striker Mia Hamm said. “I think their strengths really focus on our weaknesses and our strengths focus on their weaknesses. It makes us play at our best to beat each other.”
Hamm has had worse-than-average success against Norway. The world’s top scorer with 109 goals in 173 international games, she has scored only six times against the Norwegians in 19 games.
“At their system, they’re the best,” she said. “They play a four-back system so well and we’ve learned a lot from that. It’s always been a very healthy rivalry. It’s always extremely competitive but in a very professional way.”
That doesn’t mean the players aren’t trash-talking. Just ask midfielder Michelle Akers, whom the Norwegians have long regarded as a particularly nasty thorn in their side because she scored two goals in the ’91 final in China to snatch the world championship from their grasp, 2-1.
“They are [trash-talking] in some instances, yes,” Akers said. “[Norwegian defender Linda] Medalen always has some choice words to say that get us riled up. But it’s fun. I see it as fun.
“She’s very outspoken and the intention is just to wind us up. Her and I have kind of a neat little friendship going. So I just kind of laugh. I think it’s fun. I think it’s good for soccer. It’s good for both teams because every match we play forces us to raise the bar.
“I like it because it pushes you to see how badly you want to win and what you’re willing to do to win.”
Usually, the outcome of U.S.-Norway games depends on which team can impose its style on the other. Neutral observers, such as Finland midfielder Anne Makinen, who played against both countries in this spring’s Algarve Cup, believes the Norwegians are skilled but predictable.
Makinen, who plays for Notre Dame and who would have been one of the World Cup ’99 stars had Finland not lost to Russia in a European playoff, said the American style is more dangerous and difficult to defend.
“The U.S. keeps the ball moving all the time,” she said.
Sweden’s goalkeeper, Ulrika Karlsson, agrees.
“The U.S. is more technical,” she said. “They’re faster and much quicker.”
Because the two rivals are in different brackets for the World Cup, the earliest they could meet would be in the final. Of course, the U.S. would have to get through the first round and then past probably Brazil and Germany, while Norway has Olympic silver medalist China standing square in its path.
To Akers, the U.S.-China series, while intense, just doesn’t have the same edge.
“I think there’s more distance between the teams emotionally,” she said. “They’re not as combative, I think. They’re hard, physically--you know when you get hit by a Chinese player--but there’s a difference.”
For U.S. forward Tiffeny Milbrett, the team’s leading scorer this year, the U.S.-China matchup has always been the big rivalry. It was Milbrett’s goal that won the Olympic gold medal at China’s expense in ‘96, but she still senses the tension between the Americans and Norwegians.
“I feel it from Norway every time we go on the field,” she said. “So even though I was absent in ’91 doesn’t mean I don’t feel that rivalry. You bet I do.
“I think what makes [the Norwegians] so good is they’re really good athletically. They’re good, fundamentally sound soccer players. Really creative. Just as we have Akers in the midfield, they have Hegge Riise, who is the key to their team in the midfield and creates a lot. She’s really successful, really dominant.
“And they’ve got great forwards.”
One of them is Anne Kristin Aarones, the player who broke U.S. hearts in 1995 with the headed goal that ended the Americans’ reign as world champions.
“We beat them in the world championship and they beat us in the Olympics, so we’ll see this summer,” Aarones said.
Another is Dagny Mellgren. She celebrates her 21st birthday Saturday, the day the World Cup ’99 opens. The U.S. already has a score to settle with her. When Norway beat the U.S. in the final of last year’s under-21 Nordic Cup, she scored the winning goal.
And then there is Marianne Pettersen, a striker whose constant movement and finishing ability have caused her to be compared to Hamm.
It all adds up to a tremendous potential final July 10, but both teams will first have to get that far.
Said Hogmo: “First we have to win the [first-round] group, that’s the first aim, and qualify for the [Sydney 2000] Olympics because we have a new generation in the team, a lot of new players, and I believe that next year in the Olympics we’ll be very strong.”
That almost sounds as if Norway wants to take away the Americans’ Olympic title too. Better not let Briana Scurry know. The U.S. starting goalkeeper already has rubbed salt into the best rivalry in women’s soccer, pointing to the U.S. victory in ’96 Olympic semifinal.
“They only got to enjoy their world championship for a year,” Scurry said. “We’ve had three years to enjoy ours.”
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The Best Rivalry in Women’s Soccer
The United States, world champion in 1991, and Norway, world champion in 1995, have played each other 22 times and could meet again in the final of the 1999 Women’s World Cup. Here’s a look at the all-time series:
Date: July 5, 1987
Site: Minn.
Result: USA 3, Norway 0
Competion: Friendly
*
Date: July 11, 1987
Site: Blaine, Minn.
Result: Norway 1, USA 0
Competition: Friendly
*
Date: June 8, 1988
Site: Pun-Yu, China
Result: Norway 1, USA 0
Competition: Friendly
*
Date: July 25, 1990
Site: Winnipeg, Canada
Result: USA 4, Norway 0
Competition: Friendly
*
Date: July 29, 1990
Site: Winnipeg, Canada
Result: USA 4, Norway 2
Competition: Friendly
*
Date: Aug. 30, 1991
Site: New Britain, Conn.
Result: Norway 1, USA 0
Competition: Friendly
*
Date: Sept. 1, 1991
Site: Medford, Mass.
Result: Norway 1, USA 0
Competition: Friendly
*
Date: Nov. 30, 1991
Site: Guangzhou, China
Result: USA 2, Norway 1
Competition: World Cup Final
*
Date: Aug. 14, 1992
Site: Medford, Mass.
Result: Norway 3, USA 1
Competition: Friendly
*
Date: Aug. 16, 1992
Site: New Britain, Conn.
Result: Norway 4, USA 2
Competition: Friendly
*
Date: March 12, 1993
Site: Agai, Cyprus
Result: Norway 1, USA 0
Competition: Six-Nation Tournament
*
Date: March 20, 1994
Site: Faro, Portugal
Result: Norway 1, USA 0
Competition: Algarve Cup
*
Date: Aug. 7, 1994
Site: Worcester, Mass.
Result: USA 4, Norway 1
Competition: Chiquita Cup
*
Date: March 19, 1995
Site: Quaeira, Portugal
Result: Norway (3-3, PKs, 4-2)
Competition: Algarve, 3rd place
*
Date: June 15, 1995
Site: Vasteras, Sweden
Result: Norway 1, USA 0
Competition: World Cup semifinal
*
Date: Aug. 6, 1995
Site: Washington, D.C.
Result: USA 2, Norway 1
Competition: U.S. Women’s Cup Final
*
Date: Feb. 2, 1996
Site: Tampa, Fla.
Result: USA 3, Norway 2
Competition: Friendly
*
Date: Feb. 4, 1996
Site: Jacksonville, Fla.
Result: Norway 2, USA 1
Competition: Friendly
*
Date: July 28, 1996
Site: Athens, Ga.
Result: USA 2, Norway 1 (OT)
Competition: Olympic semifinal
*
Date: Jan. 24, 1998
Site: Guangzhou, China
Result: USA 3, Norway 0
Competition: Guangzhou Tournament
*
Date: March 19, 1998
Site: Lagos, Portugal
Result: Norway 4, USA 1
Competition: Algarve Cup
*
Date: March 18, 1999
Site: Albufeira, Portugal
Result: USA 2, Norway 1
Competition: Algarve Cup semifinal
*
Overall: Norway leads the series 11-10-1; USA leads in goals scored, 36-32
