With 2 of World Cup's best goals, Norway shakes demons loose to advance to knockout rounds

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Norway had spent its first 10 days at the 2023 World Cup enveloped by drama. It had teetered on the brink of crisis ever since an opening-night loss to New Zealand. It plunged in fully on Matchday 2. A Ballon d’Or winner pulled up injured. The team’s best player, who’d been benched, lashed out at the coach. They all entered Sunday’s Group A finale eyeing a flameout for the ages, with the world eagerly awaiting their combustion.

But over 90 minutes here at Eden Park, they remembered that, drama aside, they are also a collection of world-class players.

They beat the Philippines 6-0, advanced to the knockout rounds and eliminated two lovable underdogs in one fell swoop.

New Zealand had seized the sport’s attention with an upset of these same Norwegians last Thursday. The Philippines then stunned New Zealand, became the tournament’s gripping Cinderella tale and relegated Norway to last place in the World Cup’s weakest group.

But Norway’s convincing win sent them through in second place, behind Switzerland and ahead of New Zealand, who played to a 0-0 stalemate.

And the Norwegian protagonists, of course, were the injured star’s replacement, Sophie Román Haug, and the drama chief herself, Caroline Graham Hansen.

Haug put Norway ahead with one of the goals of the tournament, a flying volley that looped over Philippines keeper Olivia McDaniel and skimmed in off the far post.

She soon doubled the lead with a header, peeling away from the Filipina center backs.

And all the while, Graham Hansen took over. She toyed with the Philippines defense. She scored a brilliant goal of her own, and nearly set up Haug for another goal — but Haug’s point-blank back-flick was deflected just past the post.

Graham Hansen skipped past fullbacks and danced around them, the ball seemingly tied to her foot on a string. She did precisely what she always does at Barcelona, where she became a two-time European champion and one of the premiere dribblers in the world. An audacious, crafty winger, she arrived in New Zealand at the apparent top of her game — but then everything went awry.

She struggled in the opener. Players stalked through the mixed zone after their 1-0 loss, dumbfounded and frustrated, shaking their heads. “So poor,” midfielder Guro Reiten said of the overall performance. “I'm very disappointed.”

Ahead of their second match, against Switzerland, head coach Hege Riise shuffled her lineup — and dropped Graham Hansen, who eventually played 33 minutes off the bench. With star striker Ada Hegerberg injured in warmups, Norway failed to score again, and settled for an unsatisfactory 0-0 draw.

Speaking postgame, Graham Hansen let loose. “There’s not much I can say, I feel like I’m standing here with my hands tied,” she said. “I feel I have been stepped on for a whole year – everyone says all the time that we have to stand together as a team and as a nation, but I feel I’ve been on the receiving end [of a raw deal].”

“Nothing comes for free in life,” she added, “but I thought I had earned a certain amount of respect. But maybe that wasn’t the case.”

There was complicated history underneath the sudden spat. Graham Hansen stepped away from the national team last summer, not long after Riise had been appointed head coach. She had also allegedly been removed from the team’s leadership group. It’s unclear how that related to her decision to step away, or how any of this affected her relationship with Riise going forward.

No matter the backstory, the post-match outburst seemed to unleash a crisis. But it didn’t detract from Graham Hansen’s skill. She publicly apologized the following day. Ahead of Sunday’s decisive match against the Philippines, Riise said: “We have talked it out and put it behind us.”

Some 24 hours later, they put a shaky group stage behind them as well. They scored a fourth, an own goal, shortly after halftime. Reiten scored a fifth from the penalty spot five minutes later. Haug completed her hat trick in stoppage time.

The Norwegians have cautioned the world, explicitly and implicitly, that they are not always the sum of their parts. But the parts are pretty darn good. They’ll advance to the Round of 16, where they’ll meet the Group C winner — either Japan or Spain — next Saturday, Aug. 5.