Football

Caroline Hansen’s last-minute goal for Norway consigns England to defeat


England gave away the lead for the second game in a row, but five days after drawing with Belgium, a late goal meant Phil Neville’s side lost against Norway, whom they beat in their World Cup quarter-final this summer. Georgia Stanway’s 10th-minute stunner was undone first by Frida Maanum’s header from a corner – to add to concerns over England’s back line – and then a Caroline Graham Hansen mazy run and strike into the roof of the net, leaving the England captain, Steph Houghton, on the ground in her way.

Before the match, Neville had said this game would be as far from a friendly as a friendly can be. “Two, three games ago we were in a quarter-final of a World Cup, Norway probably think they were unlucky, they want it. It’s in their home country. They’ve got their biggest crowd. They are not going to rock up and say: ‘Here, you take it’ … It’s going to be a proper game of football and it’s what we need,” he said.

He then pointed to the players he had missing from that thrilling quarter-final in Le Havre, urging caution. “Two of the goalscorers aren’t playing for us tomorrow, the No 10, Fran Kirby, isn’t and our goalkeeper,” he said.

If he was ruing the loss of those players he will likely be ecstatic with the response of Stanway to being trusted with the creative role so synonymous with the Chelsea forward Kirby. After the 3-3 draw with Belgium, Stanway was asked about whether she was enjoying being given Kirby’s role. “I do,” she said. “Just getting in the pockets and getting shots off, you’ve got the freedom to do what you want, to attack and defend and I really enjoyed it.”

In that game the skilful 20-year-old threaded a sublime pass between the lines, taking out three defenders in the process, to put the ball on a plate for Jodie Taylor to score England’s first. The pass “pleasantly surprised her”, she said. “Usually I’d shoot. The girls will give me stick and say I had my David Silva head on.”

In Bergen, with the tree and house-lined mountains peering over the somewhat idyllic and unassuming ground, Stanway chose to shoot. And what a shot. The Manchester City forward picked up a square ball on the edge of the penalty area and lashed a first-time shot in off the underside of the bar. She looked bemused, possibly again pleasantly surprising herself.

Neville had said Lucy Bronze’s powerful strike against Norway at the World Cup was the how/why “moment that it took for Lucy to win European player of the year. That goal was the turning point, the one that set her apart from everything else.” If that was the moment to lift Bronze firmly into the elite, in Bergen surely we had seen the goal that would thrust Stanway firmly into first-team reckoning.

Caroline Hansen (No 10) celebrates after scoring the winner for Norway late in the game.



Caroline Hansen (No 10) celebrates after scoring the winner for Norway late in the game. Photograph: Michael Zemanek/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

England had been cruising before that, albeit with the occasional familiar, nervy moment at the back, but after the goal momentum switched.

Karina Sævik and Amalie Eikeland caused endless trouble for Rachel Daly and Demi Stokes on the wings as the Norwegians sought to exploit England’s weakness from balls into the penalty area.

It took until the 53rd minute for the hosts to find the reply, though. A wonderful low fingertip save by Carly Telford from Eikeland was undone from the resulting corner. Swung in, it was met by Maanum in the middle and headed cleanly over the Chelsea keeper from three yards out. It was another goal conceded from a set piece to add to discontent about the team’s inability to deal with dead balls.

And where England relaxed after scoring, Norway upped the ante after their goal. Cheered on by a record home attendance of around 10,000, they worked the England back line hard, though Hansen’s shot from 25 yards not enough to trouble Telford.

Desperate to inject some urgency into his attack, which had managed one shot on target, Neville introduced Chelsea’s top scorer of last season, Beth England, and Arsenal’s calming Leah Williamson, as well as the Manchester City keeper Ellie Roebuck for her third cap.

England (Beth, that is) almost made an instant impact, chasing a ball through the middle, but her Chelsea teammate Maren Mjelde read the pass well and matched her for pace.

There was time for a moment of celebration at the end, with the goalkeeper Ingrid Hjelmseth substituted off to a standing ovation on her final appearance, at 39, for the national team.

The festivities resumed moments later, when Hansen jigged her way into the box, wrong-footed Houghton, and blasted high over Roebuck from an acute angle to give the hosts a win and a little revenge.



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