Ada Hederberg was at the centre of the action in Norway’s 3-1 victory over Ivory Coast in Group B on Monday night, scoring twice in just over an hour, before Solveig Gulbrandsen sealed the European’s passage to the last 16 of this year’s Women’s World Cup. However, Ivory Coast went down fighting as 4ft 7 inch Ange N’Guessan rocketed a 25-yard wonder strike past Ingrid Hjelmseth to restore some of Ivory Coast’s honour.
The African side were in trouble right from the start of the match as Norway dominated possession and applied the pressure early on, taking just six minutes to open the scoring. A lofted ball was headed on by Emilie Haavi into the path of Hederberg who smashed the ball past Cynthia Djohore who failed to guard her near post.
Djohore nearly made things worse for herself and Ivory Coast as she fluffed a goal kick, the ball falling at the feet of Hederberg who did well to control and shoot, but the resulting save made up for the original mistake.
Ivory Coast did show some ambition coming forward though, and that was prevalent as Rebecca Elloh won a free kick after some tricky dribbling. The free kick, you would assume, was not in a position to shoot from, but Ida Guehai tried to use that to her advantage. She stepped up and curled it towards the far post where goalkeeper Hjelmseth was almost caught out, but recovered to make an important save.
Josée Nahi was also strong in possession for the Africans and her run and shot in the first half nearly equated to something, but unfortunately for her, a deflection took the sting and direction out of the effort.
That said it was Hederberg who really shone in this fixture and had multiple chances to make the scoreline more comprehensive for her side. Most notably when the striker looked certain to score but appeared to slip, or just lose composure, at the vital moment as the ball was squared to her, leaving the empty net gaping.
On 37 minutes, Gulbrandsen had another opportunity to extend Norway’s lead but equally fell short. She lent back as the ball dropped for her in the box and the resulting shot sailed over the cross bar.
However after the break Norway continued where they left off and were much more clinical this time around.
All game the Norwegians had enjoyed getting in behind the Ivory Coast defence and were effective again in this area as star-woman Hederberg ran clean-through, beating the offside trap. In light of other missed chances, she made sure this one counted, finishing past Djohore for the second time of the afternoon.
Five minutes later Gulbrandsen headed home to ensure her side looked comfortable until a driving run from N’Guessan led to a 25 yard goal of the tournament contender for Ivory Coast.
Unfortunately it acted as nothing more than a consolation for the African nation who bowed out of Group B with zero points whilst Norway progress through to the last 16 in second place after missing out on top spot by goal difference only.
