EM 2022: Balls cause a stir among Norwegians

Norwegians angry after the start of the European Championship

“I would have expected something like this to be checked”

The Norwegians win their European Championship opener against Northern Ireland 4:1. Still, there’s trouble. Because of the balls.

Published: 10:57 am

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Updated: 11:45 am

Norway’s star player Ada Hegerberg (World Soccer Player 2018) complains about the game device after the opening win against Northern Ireland. The Lyon player says on Norwegian radio: “They were a bit soft, at least the first two.”

This is also evident during the game, in the 20th minute she throws the ball away in irritation. And other players also indicate several times that something is wrong with the balls. “We asked for a new ball that we could play decent football with,” says Hegerberg, who made her international comeback after five years.

“Not enough air”

And the first replacement balls were not satisfactory either. “There was far too little air in it, that didn’t help much,” said Chelsea midfielder Guro Reit. And the Norwegian captain Maren Mjelde complained after the game: “There wasn’t enough air in the balls. In many. You could feel when shooting that they were almost a bit dead. That was strange. I would have expected something like this to be checked.”

Despite ball frustration, the Norwegians can go into the big game in Group A against England (next Monday) with a lot of self-confidence after the win at the start. Hopefully with satisfying balls. (jsl)

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