Norway to break the French resistance
By Billy Weir

Belfast Telegraph, United Kingdom
July 20 2005

20 July 2005

Optimism is the key word in the Norway camp as they prepare to take
on France tonight at Windsor Park.

As expected, coach Tor Ole Skullerund guided his side to a comfortable
success over Armenia at Mourneview Park on Monday.

He knows though that things will be tougher against the French,
who played out a 1-1 draw against England in their opening game.

Goals from Karim Aoudia and Vidar Nisja gave Norway a vital win,
and with England to come in their last game, Skullerund knows just
how important a result it was.

“In the end I think we deserved the win. We didn’t start well but
came on and on and in the end we should have had more goals,” he said.

“The Armenians had a lot of possession and passed the ball well and
we expected that because we studied them on video.

“We set our focus to win the first game. To win was very important
for us and to start the championship in a good way.

“We have two tough games coming up but we have no pressure and we
can just go on and let ourselves loose.

“We will have our hands full, but if we can keep up our best defensive
work we will do fine.

“We have everything to win now. We were optimistic when we came and
we are even more optimistic now.”

At The Oval, England took the lead against France thanks to Matthew
Fryatt’s early strike, only for Abdoulaye Balde to level matters,
but they will fancy their chances of seeing off the Armenians.

France and Norway clash at 8.00pm, while England’s game with Armenia
at Ballymena Showgrounds kicks off an hour earlier.