Norway ease to opening victory

Norway made a winning start to qualifying for the 2009 UEFA European Women's Championship, winning 3-0 in Israel to boost confidence for their opening home encounter against Austria on Thursday.

Dogged defending
Israel defended with determination early on, only to be undone by two goals from Solveig Gulbrandsen and one by Melissa Wiik. "We struggled to find any rhythm in the first half, and the players were caught out by the Israel offside trap too often," said Bjarne Berntsen. "Things got better in the second half, when we created more on the flanks. Israel were beaten 6-0 at home by Russia recently so only a win was good enough for us." Russia lead Group 6 with maximum points from two outings.