sábado, 26 de marzo de 2011

Noruega 1-1 Dinamarca

Erik Huseklepp's goal nine minutes from time maintained Norway's unbeaten record in Euro 2012 qualifying as Denmark missed the chance to pull level with their Scandinavian rivals at the summit of Group H.

A cagey encounter produced little in the way of goalmouth action before Dennis Rommedahl fired the Danes ahead just before the half-hour, and the veteran winger was unlucky not to wrap up the points after the break when he fired against the crossbar.

Norway's toothless performance made a mockery of their 100% record coming into the match but the hosts got out of jail late on when Huseklepp got in behind the Denmark defence to snatch a barely deserved equaliser.

The point moves Norway onto 10 points, three clear of both Portugal and Denmark after four matches.

Denmark coach Morten Olsen encouraged his team to be bold ahead of the game and it was they who did the bulk of the attacking over the 90 minutes, their first chance arriving inside quarter of an hour when Christian Eriksen's effort was blocked by Kjetil Waehler.

But the Norway defence had no answer on 28 minutes when the ball sat up nicely for Rommedahl on the edge of the area and the Olympiacos winger showed superb technique to guide a precise volley into the top-left corner.

Norway's only chance of the opening period fell to Espen Ruud, who flashed a header wide from a John Arne Riise corner.

Denmark continued to press after the break and went close when Michael Krohn-Delhi volleyed over after 62 minutes.

But the turning point came 10 minutes later when the width of the crossbar denied the visitors a second.

Krohn-Delhi had already seen his shot parried by Rune Almenning Jarstein, and when Norway could only half clear their lines from the resulting corner the ball fell to Rommedahl who saw his thunderous effort smash against the woodwork.

Buoyed by their good fortune, Norway went in search of an equaliser, and they struck lucky in the 81st minute when Daniel Braaten's pass from the right was collected by Huseklepp and the striker kept his cool to slot home into the left corner.

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