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Football: Filipinas remain wary of 'wounded' Norway

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Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News 

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="EPA-EFE." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/07/29/20230729-norway-soccer-team-epa-efe.jpg"/><figcaption>Norway&#x27;s soccer team coach Hege Riise (C), players Caroline Graham Hansen (L) and Maren Mjelde speak to reporters during a press conference ahead of the FIFA Women&#x27;s World Cup in Auckland, New Zealand, July 19, 2023. <em>How Hwee Young, EPA-EFE.</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Norway will not be at full strength when they play the Philippine women&#x27;s national team on Sunday, but Alen Stajcic believes this does not give them any advantage over the European powerhouse. </p><p>Prolific striker Ada Hegerberg has been ruled out of the crucial Group A clash -- a must-win for Norway if they hope to advance to the knockout phase -- due to injury. Caroline Graham Hansen publicly expressed her disappointment after being benched in the first half against Switzerland, and coach Hege Riise was repeatedly asked about the situation in a pre-match press conference on Saturday afternoon. </p><p>Meanwhile, the Filipinas are entering the match with confidence after a historic 1-0 triumph against New Zealand last Tuesday -- an upset that kept them in the hunt for a place in the round-of-16. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/25/23/filipinas-stun-new-zealand-for-first-ever-world-cup-win">Football: Filipinas stun New Zealand for first-ever World Cup win</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/29/23/football-norways-ada-hegerberg-to-miss-game-vs-filipinas">Football: Norway&#x27;s Ada Hegerberg to miss game vs. Filipinas</a></li></ul><p>Asked about the drama in Norway&#x27;s camp ahead of the match day, Stajcic pointed to the country&#x27;s football heritage and expressed his belief that the Norwegians will come to fight. </p><p>&quot;Each team in their preparation has different issues, whether it be physical, mental, social, cultural. At the end of the day, I&#x27;ve been following football and women&#x27;s football for over 30 years, and I know how strong the country is, and their history and culture of Norwegian women&#x27;s football,&quot; said Stajcic.</p><p>Norway were world champions in 1995 and reached the World Cup semifinals in 1999 and 2007, while also winning Olympic gold in the 2000 Sydney Olympics -- where Riise was one of their key players.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;ve got a lot of respect for them as a team and as a country and what they&#x27;ve given to the world&#x27;s game. I don&#x27;t care what&#x27;s going on, no one really cares what&#x27;s going on inside the camp,&quot; he said. &quot;I&#x27;m sure tomorrow when they come out here, they&#x27;re gonna fight for their country like they always have for 30 years.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Everything else is irrelevant when you&#x27;re out on the field. I&#x27;m sure they&#x27;re gonna have 15, 16 players on the pitch tomorrow who are gonna fight,&quot; he added.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/27/23/back-to-work-for-filipinas-after-historic-win-vs-nz">Back to work for Filipinas after historic win vs. New Zealand</a></li></ul><p>Indeed, the recent crisis may just galvanize Norway, who have so far fallen short of expectations in the World Cup. Tipped to make it out of Group A, they instead languish at the bottom with just one point, after losing to New Zealand, 1-0, and battling to a goalless draw against Switzerland.</p><p>They have to beat the Philippines in order to have a chance of advancing to the knockout round.</p><p>&quot;The fact that they&#x27;re wounded sometimes means they&#x27;ll come out fighting hard to prove everyone wrong. They&#x27;re champions,&quot; said Stajcic. &quot;I got a lot of respect for them, and that&#x27;s the way we&#x27;ll be treating them.&quot;</p><p>Graham Hansen, the Barcelona star who is widely regarded as one of the world&#x27;s best players, has apologized for her comments after the Switzerland match and Riise said Saturday that they have put the conflict behind them. </p><p>&quot;We have talked it out and put it behind us,&quot; said the coach. &quot;Our focus is on the game against the Philippines and we want to give our best performance.&quot;</p><p>&quot;The atmosphere in the team is very good. We have been working towards this game and we are ready for the Philippines. We know what to expect and we know what we have to do. We are prepared to go out and get the result we need,&quot; she added.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/25/23/norway-in-world-cup-peril-amid-hegerberg-injury-and-player-unrest">Norway in World Cup peril amid Hegerberg injury and player unrest</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2740178" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Norway will not be at full strength when they play the Filipinas on Sunday, but Alen Stajcic believes this does not give them any advantage over the European powerhouse. 

Football: Filipinas remain wary of 'wounded' Norway

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Football: Filipinas remain wary of 'wounded' Norway

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 29, 2023 10:13 PM PHT

|

Updated Jul 30, 2023 05:20 PM PHT

Read More:

football

FIFA

FIFA Women's World Cup

Filipinas

PWNFT

Philippine women's national football team

Norway

Guro Reiten

Ada Hegerberg

Caroline Graham Hansen

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