Tamazgha 1-2 Greater Norway
Greater Norway upset reigning African champions
In a World Cup debut to remember, the northern European nation offered a great second half to defeat Tamazgha, keeping up with the great level of play they showed during the qualifications playoff, where they left out the Venetian Republic.
The Nordic country played a great game, not falling back and playing as if they were the favorite team and attacking from the minute the ball started rolling. By lining up four midfielders and three strikers, the Norwegians managed to both pin down the Tamazghan creative brain Meddour Hakin while sending a great number of men to attack, spearheaded by star Trond Olsen.
It was fairly obvious that the North Africans fans didn’t expect the game to start that way, with their players seemingly not knowing what to do. This was only accentuated when the Stefan Johansen scored the first goal at the 33th minute, in a play where Sigþórsson reached the final line and sent the ball directly to the midfielder’s head, who had joined the attack in a sprint all the way from his own side of the pitch.
Second half saw Tamazgha take the initiative, trying to score the equalizer as soon as possible. However, they were left dead on their tracks when, at the 60th minute, Olsen scored the second goal for his team with a gorgeous top corner shot, unreachable for Nasrallah.
The Norwegians seemed to have the game controlled, but a goal by Bashara at the 85th minute almost ruined their great performance, as the African champions send every man up front looking for the tie. However the newcomers held tight to the last minute and got a very well deserved victory in their World Cup debut, which leaves them with better chances to advance to the second round, while Tamazgha will have to swim against the current as they now face group favorites Sierra Madre and Philippines.
Tamazgha will face Sierra Madre next Friday in Cologne, while Greater Norway will play against Philippines later that same day.
Tamazgha: Nasrallah, Haddad, Jeannine, Khalil, Halaby (Baghra, 45), Selah, Bronn (Fouen, 62), Hakin, Sophaine (Battuta, 80), Saphir, Bashara.
Greater Norway: Nyland, Reginiussen, Svensson, Nordveit, Johansen (Selnæs, 80), Gunnarsson, Henriksen, Bkarnason, Olsen, Sigþórsson (Hovland, 86), Søderlund (Fossum, 65).
Yellow cards:
Tamazgha:
Haddad, 34
Selah, 55