Norway coach Bjorn Johansen has praised Nigeria’s Flying Eagles as a “very tough opponent” after his team battled to a narrow 1-0 victory in their opening game of the 24th FIFA U20 World Cup on Monday.
Sondre Holten’s 9th-minute penalty — Norway’s first U20 World Cup goal since Erling Haaland’s nine-goal masterclass against Honduras at Poland 2019 — proved to be the difference. But the Europeans spent most of the match under siege as Nigeria dominated possession and rained down chances.
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The Flying Eagles were inches away from equalizing several times. Kparobo Arierhi’s low strike skimmed past the post in the 47th minute, Tahir Maigana’s thunderbolt rattled the upright in the 63rd, and Nasiru Salihu’s rocket in the 71st narrowly cleared the crossbar. Late on, Maigana unleashed another long-range effort that missed by a whisker, while two strong penalty appeals were waved away by the referee.
Norway survived by defending deep, throwing bodies in the box to repel wave after wave of Nigerian attacks. After the final whistle, Johansen admitted the Flying Eagles had made his team work hard for the three points.
“Winning is very important, getting the three points. Every game is going to be fought until the end. Now we’ll play a final against Saudi Arabia. But three points in our debut, in a World Cup, is very important. We have to improve our game, but the structure is good and Nigeria is a very tough opponent,” Johansen said.
For Nigeria, the display was full of promise but short on reward. The two-time silver medallists will now turn their attention to Thursday’s must-win clash against Saudi Arabia, hoping their dominance finally translates into goals.
