Arsenal’s Frida Maanum hoping to shock hosts in opening game of Women’s World Cup

Frida Maanum and her Norwegian teammates are aware they are not considered favourites to win the FIFA Women’s World Cup, but even so, they hope they can be as competitive as they ought to be and leave Australia and New Zealand as world champions.

Chelsea’s Guro Reiten recently spoke to the media about how the Norway camp feels about their World Cup campaign. “At this World Cup we are outsiders, but I hope we are going to have a good tournament and you never know who is going to lift the trophy in the end,” Reiten told the Fifa website.

“In the quarter-final against England, we lost to a better football team, but I hope this year we can be even more competitive and go further.”

Norway had a good time in France at the 2019 Women’s World Cup. They managed to reach the quarter-finals but unfortunately didn’t qualify for the finals after being knocked out of the competition by England, losing 3-0 to the Lionesses.

In Euro 2022, they were unlucky to leave the competition in the group stages, securing only 3 points. But leaving in the group stages wasn’t as humiliating as losing 8-0 to England in their second Euro 2022 group game.

Under the guidance of Hege Riise, Maanum and her teammates will be hoping to excel. About Riise, Reiten claims, “She is not a typical coach, because she’ll never stand and shout from the sidelines.

Norway will play the opening game of the World Cup, against New Zealand, at Eden Park in Auckland. The grand Opening Ceremony of the tournament  will preceed that match in Auckland – a must see!

Below are Norway’s full group fixtures in Group A of this year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia & New Zealand:

20th July: New Zealand versus Norway

25th July: Switzerland versus Norway

30 July: Norway versus the Philippines

Go, go, Frida! Go, go, Norway!