Then we are at it again. Ståle Solbakken and the Norwegian World Cup heroes were going to meet the Ullevaal crowd for the first time since the championship, this time against the best opponents in the Nations League. It started with Denmark, the football nation we have looked up to for far too many decades, the nation we have never beaten in a meaningful match. When the smoke had settled at Ullevaal on Thursday evening, it was for us an entertaining reaction from the Danish media.
Danish sports journalists are known for the big headlines and vivid descriptions of losses and victories. With the 3-2 loss against Norway, Danish B.T was in the poetic corner, clearly impressed by Norway’s biggest stars (which Denmark lacks).
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“Denmark was left behind by Norway and received a brutal punishment from Oslo’s most evil man, Erling Haaland,” B.T. begins.
Before Danish right-back Rasmus Nissen Kristensen hears it.
“It was terrible to watch. The Norwegian leopard Antonio Nusa ate Rasmus Nissen alive. And he did it again and again. Several times along the way, people looked down at Brian Riemer with pleading eyes and hoped he would take Nissen off the field out of pure mercy. Nightmare, writes B.T.
After 20 minutes and a 2-0 lead to Norway, it looked like this could get really ugly for the former “big brother” in Scandinavia. It ended with a Danish loss, but on paper it didn’t look so catastrophically weak.
Danish TV 2’s football expert Morten Bruun summed up the mood after the loss against Norway: “Denmark saves itself from humiliation.”
Loser, but grateful that it could have been worse.
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Are there others who get a bit of a flashback to decades with the Norwegian national team, where we lose games, but find bright spots in “it wasn’t that bad”, or “we could have won”? Now it is Denmark who has taken over this role in Scandinavia.
