Practice makes perfect for Torske's Norway

Norway coach Jarl Torske put his side's 3-0 triumph over the Netherlands down to good preparation against an Oranje outfit, who, according to coach Johan van Heertum, had no answer to Norway's relentless pressing.

Jarl Torske, Norway coach
I expected a very tough game because I look at Netherlands as one of the top teams in Europe. I am very pleased with our performance and the way we played. I think we showed that we can play good football.

If we had lost today we would have been out. It was very hard after the Germany defeat but we prepared for the game very well. We play Spain now and it is going to be a very hard game but a draw should be enough to qualify so it is a good result for us.

Johan van Heertum, Netherlands coach
We need to forget about that game. The same thing happened in the first match. We conceded early against Spain and it took us a while to come back. This time we tried but didn't succeed. We couldn't overcome Norway's pressing. In the second half we tried to push up more by getting an extra midfielder to try to stop Norway hitting long balls, but our midfield struggled because they pressed us so much. When they put two forwards up front that finished the game for us.

The Norway goalkeeper did quite well and their defenders impressed in their individual battles with our strikers. I think [Desiree van Lunteren, whose errors contributed to Norway's goals] knows it herself and these things happen. Normally she is good in those confrontations. The first goal was not just her fault because the ball was coming across, behind our two defenders. We had said beforehand that one player should close down the player and the full-back should cover the other, but it didn't happen.