Norway's Women's World Cup crisis: Superstars Ada Hegerberg and Caroline Graham Hansen being held back as early exit looms

When the team news came out for Norway’s crucial match with Switzerland on Tuesday, it was shocking. Following a disappointing defeat to New Zealand in the first game, head coach Hege Riise dropped Graham Hansen to the bench.

This is one of the best players in the world, a game-changer and a galvaniser, someone who played a huge role when Barcelona won the Champions League just last month – and this was an incredibly important game. It was a huge decision.

Graham Hansen would spend less than an hour on the sidelines before, at 0-0, being thrown on to try and get Norway the goal they desired. The winger was very lively and came close on a few occasions, but the game would end goalless.

“There's a lot I want to say, but you might have to bite your tongue,” she told Viaplay after the final whistle. “I feel like I've been trampled on for a year. You talk about standing together as a team and as a nation. I feel that over the past year I've just taken it on the chin. I thought I had earned a certain amount of respect.”

Asked if she believed there were other reasons for her being on the bench, Graham Hansen replied: “I think I'll leave it until after the championship. I think that in Norway we have a tradition of putting everyone in the same box. The Law of Jante is strong”, she added, referring to an attitude of disapproval towards standing out and expressing individuality.

Riise stood by her decision after the game and praised Graham Hansen’s impact from the bench. The following day, the player apologised for her comments in a press conference. “My emotions got the better of me,” she said.

You can’t ignore what happened though, right? After all, frustrations have boiled over before. Indeed, Graham Hansen took a break from the national team after the Euros last summer, while Hegerberg didn’t play for Norway for five years.

And the decision not to play Graham Hansen was certainly a big shock. In Riise’s press conference after the match, one journalist raised their hand and put the following to the coach: “Our football expert says that if you have one of the best players in her position, if you cannot find a space for her on the team, then you fail as a coach. What's your opinion?”

“Well, that's his opinion,” Riise responded. “I reached this decision based on what I find to be best for the team. That was my starting point and that's what I do today. I stick by that decision and that assessment. The opinions of others? Well, it's difficult for me to influence other people's opinion, but I stick to what I did.”

That it is players like Graham Hansen and Hegerberg that have been vocal about their frustrations at the national team, and gone against that Law of Jante, is no surprise. After all, these are two supremely-talented footballers who play for two of the biggest and best-supported clubs in the game, at Barcelona and Lyon, respectively. They want to be successful and their desire to be so with the national team is at the heart of any outspokenness.

And this team should be doing better. After the defeat to New Zealand, Graham Hansen told NRK: "We go from championship to championship and underperform."

When we talk about ‘golden generations’ not living up to the hype, it’s often that the team has fallen in the knockout rounds too many times or just not got over the hurdle in the final. But after failing to get out of the group stage at Euro 2022, losing 8-0 to England in the process, Norway could be about to exit at the same stage at this 2023 Women’s World Cup, despite being the favourites to top a group that features New Zealand, Switzerland and the Philippines. That’s quite a dramatic underperformance.

And these problems don’t just stem from benching Graham Hansen. First of all, this is a team that lacks defensive depth. They have a couple of top-level players in these areas, but are otherwise fragile. Yet it feels like the team is not set-up in a way that best masks that or protects the weakness from being exposed, either in the formation or the players in midfield that can offer support.

That would be fine if they scored lots and lots of goals, which they are capable of given how top-heavy the squad is. Hegerberg, Graham Hansen, Reiten, Haavi, Maanum – these are all attack-minded players, but Norway haven’t found the back of the net yet at the World Cup.

Again, there is team selection that can be questioned here. For example, why is Reiten, who just put up the highest number of assists in the WSL from a left-wing position, playing in midfield? Her ability to isolate a defender one-on-one and whip in a dangerous cross is one of her biggest strengths. In midfield, she has been crowded out and stifled, unable to be at her creative best.

Of course, more is expected from the individuals, too. They can create more, finish better, defend more effectively – and they’ve acknowledged that throughout the tournament. But it does also feel like Riise can get more out of them than she currently is.

And so all eyes are on Norway once again. If they want to progress to the knockout rounds in New Zealand, they need to beat the Philippines, who just beat the co-hosts 1-0, by three goals or hope things go their way elsewhere.

After the disappointment of the Euros, the team changed coach and there was hope that Riise could help to get the best out of this group of players. But the team is still nowhere near as good as it should be. That is not to say Norway should be winning the 2023 Women’s World Cup – but they should be getting out of this group. Whatever the problem is, the federation needs to get to the bottom of it and fix things.

Make what you want of Graham Hansen’s comments, of Riise’s team selections, of what this group of players has the potential to do – but there’s one thing that is certain. This amount of talent should not be staring a second group-stage exit in 12 months in the face.