– Ada Hegerberg who? – Dagsavisen
The press conference before the Northern Ireland women’s team’s first play-off match has been a lot about Norway’s qualities. National team manager Kenny Shiels did not hide the size of the task.
– Norway has been in nine European Championship semi-finals and six finals. That’s how big they are. We’ll debut tomorrow. We are very aware that we represent the nation, and we will give everything, but our goal is to improve and get closer to teams like Norway, he said.
Both he and Callaghan know very well who Hegerberg is, and Caroline Graham Hansen, and all the other Norwegians.
Callaghan has shaken off an injury just in time for the European Championships, and Shiels can choose between all 23 in the squad.
[ Utklasset Nord-Irland i kvalifiseringen – avviser undervurdering i EM ]
Counter with Big Mac
The captain has previously mentioned Caroline Graham Hansen as the most difficult opponents she has faced. Graham Hansen has scored eight goals in the last four matches against Northern Ireland, all in qualifying.
– She is a player with great quality and high tempo, who likes to lead the ball at great speed and challenge, but we have Big Mac (Rachel McFadden) in the central defense who has stopped many top strikers, and I have no doubt that our defense will make it difficult for her, Callaghan replied.
– As usual, we have learned everything about our opponents, so we can do our job.
[ Neppe overraskelser i Norges lag mot Nord-Irland ]
Very hard
This also applies to Hegerberg. Callaghan came up with her little joke when she was asked what she thought when she heard that Ada Hegerberg was going to make a comeback for Norway.
– She is a very difficult opponent, but we have met many of them, was the serious answer.
Although Shiels once chatted and called Norway “Northampton”, there is no doubt that he respects Thursday’s opponents, who also called “the world’s second best team at the moment”.
– Our first match in this tournament was against Norway, and we lost 0-6 at home. It gives us something to measure performance against. We have reached this playoffs from a low level, he said.
[ Hegerberg rangert som EMs beste spiller av svensk storavis ]