SLOVENIA v NORWAY

Slovenia 0 Norway 0

I didn't watch this game (any of it!) - as I was feasting my eyes on the game at Bruges, as I'm sure most of the world was. Of course, I am sorry I missed it (!), but you can read the Time's write-up at the bottom of this page.

I did, however, see the looks of utter dismay on the players' faces when, after thinking they were through to the quarter finals, they got the news that the Spanish had, indeed, miraculously, come back to WIN the other game, so therefore knocking Norway out. Oh! Never mind, lads - look at it this way. You didn't deserve to go through. You provided spectators with dull, dull football. Bye-bye!

Teams and things

SLOVENIA (3-5-1-1): 12 M Dabanovic (Lokeren) - 3 Z Milinovic (LASK Linz), 5 M Galic (Maribor; sub: 18 M Acimovic, Red Star Belgrade, 83min), 6 A Knavs (Tirol Innsbruck) - 7 D Novak (Sedan), 8 A Ceh (Grazer AK), 11 M Pavlin (Karlsruhe), 13 M Rudonja (Truidense), 19 A Karic (Maribor) - 10 Z Zahovic (Olympiakos) - 17 E Siljak (Sevette; sub: 20 M Osterc, Olimpija Ljubljana, 86). Substitutes not used: 1 M Simuneovic (Maribor), 22 D Nemec (FC Bruges), 2 S Bulajic (FC Cologne), 9 S Udovic (LASK Linz), 14 S Gajser (Gent), 15 R Istenic (Bayer Uerdingen), 16 A Zlogar (Nova Gorica), 21 Z Pavlovic (Dinamo Zagreb). Booked: Pavlin.

NORWAY (4-5-1): 1 T Myhre (Everton) - 2 A Bergdolmo (Rosenborg), 16 D Eggen (Alaves), 3 B Bragstad (Rosenborg), 22 S I Bjornebye (Liverpool) - 17 J Carew (Rosenborg; sub: 19 E Bakke, Leeds United, 61; sub: 6 R Strand, Rosenborg, 82), 18 S Iversen (Tottenham Hotspur), 8 S Solbakken (Aalborg), 7 E Mykland (Panathinaikos), 20 O G Solskjaer (Manchester United) - 9 T A Flo (Chelsea). Substitutes not used: 12 F Olsen (Seville), 13 M Bakke (Molde), 4 H Berg (Manchester United), 5 T Andersen (Wimbledon), 10 K Rekdal (Valerenga), 11 B Skammelsrud (Rosenborg), 14 V Heggem (Liverpool), 15 J A Riise (AS Monaco), 21 V Riseth (Celtic). Booked: Mykland, Solskjaer.

Referee: G Poll (England)



Match Report from "The Times"

June 22 2000 FOOTBALL

Norway pay for lack of enterprise

FROM KEVIN MCCARRA IN ARNHEM

SLOVENIA 0 NORWAY 0


NORWAY'S single excuse was ripped from them yesterday. Their ugly methods do not even work. Everyone with a dispassionate interest in the European championship will be heartened by the fact that they have been removed from the competition by Spain's winner against Yugoslavia in injury time.
It may seem callous to treat the disappointment of Nils Johan Semb's team so lightly, but they have displayed scant sympathy for spectators in search of entertainment. Norway have scored just one goal in their three matches.

"For a few minutes, I thought we were in the quarter-finals," the coach said, "but while I was on the pitch I saw a Spanish journalist celebrating in the press box and I knew it was all over."

The teams played as if there were no tomorrow or, at least, no weekend. By the interval, each contained a man who, having collected a second booking of the tournament, knew that he was ruled out of the quarter-final if his country happened to reach it. Miran Pavlin's yellow card was awarded for a standard piece of brutishness, but Erik Mykland received his for dissent, an offence that one would not have expected from him.

With his hairstyle and goatee beard, he is Hollywood's conception of a jazz musician and, with his preference for skill, he is Norway's sole concession to delicacy. If such a person could lose his cool, others were in danger of covering the game in scorch marks.

By no coincidence whatsoever, the chances arrived when the match had stopped for a set-piece and players had a moment to gather their thoughts.

For Slovenia, in the first half, Ermin Siljak put a shot flashing wide after a corner kick ran to him and, later, came close with a flying header as he connected with Amir Karic's free kick. Norway had a well-prepared set-piece of their own that might have broken the deadlock. Mykland chipped the ball up for Steffen Iversen to rifle a drive that ripped beyond the far post as John Carew lunged in an effort to convert it.

Carew is to join Valencia for more than £6 million, but few men glitter in Norway's utilitarian system. When it was announced that no substitutions had been made for the second half, one half-expected a cry of "Shame!" from the crowd. Meagre as the entertainment was, however, the prize of survival in the tournament was enough to keep the supporters engrossed.

The teams were not tedious on purpose. While Norway included Stale Solbakken to stop Zlatko Zahovic, they also had a midfield that included three men who are best-known as forwards. The plan was so ineffective that Norway felt the need for improved balance and replaced one of them, Carew, with Eirik Bakke. By restraining himself, the Leeds United youngster came by an opportunity. Hanging back, in the 69th minute, he was in space as a clearance dropped, but the volley flew high.

Bakke was soon injured and had to make way for Roar Strand. The fluctuations of personnel barely mattered. Nobody could ever accuse Norway of depending on acts of individualism.