Caroline Graham Hansen’s winning strike for Norway against Finland will barely register among the best goals of her career, but it almost guarantees her country a shot of redemption after years of Euro heartbreak.
Her cross from a tight angle dipped over the Finnish keeper before hitting the far post and flying into the net in the 84th minute, a just reward after she displayed the full extent of her dribbling skills to set up the chance.
“It was intuition, you try the thing no-one expects, and then it goes in. I have no better explanation than that,” Graham Hansen told Norway’s TV2 after her side’s 2-1 win.
“It’s lovely, especially when it was such a messy game. You feel that you are not quite where you want to be, so getting three points and getting to the quarter-finals is lovely,” she added.
After beating hosts Switzerland 2-1 in their opener on Wednesday, Norway are all but guaranteed a spot in the last eight.
If Iceland fail to beat Switzerland later on Sunday, the Norwegians will go through to the knockout stage as group winners and will play the runners-up in Group B, which features Spain, Italy, Belgium and Portugal.
For the likes of Graham Hansen, team captain Ada Hegerberg and former captain Maren Mjelde, getting through to the knockout stages will offer them a chance at redemption following more than a decade of under-achievement at the Euros.
That trio all featured in Norway’s last game in the knockout stage of the competition, the 2013 final, in which Graham Hansen won one of two penalties the Norwegians missed in a 1-0 defeat by Germany.
They exited at the group stage in 2017 and 2022, suffering a record 8-0 defeat to eventual winners England last time out.
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“We want to get her to take people on, there’s nobody better at that than Caroline, and she finished with a fantastic goal that is incredibly important for us,” Hegerberg said.
Norway face Iceland in their final group game on Thursday.
