All to play for in Oslo

By Graham Hunter in Valencia

Norway's brave performance in Valencia came at a cost in that Henning Berg, whose superb work in defence was blighted by the deflection for Spain's winner in the 2-1 victory, will be suspended for the return leg in Oslo on Wednesday following his second-half booking.

Several out
Steffan Iversen had opened the scoring, Raúl González equalised and Rubén Baraja's stab at goal went in off the unfortunate Berg late in the second half. But with Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Andre Bergdølmo, John Carew and Eirik Bakke already missing the loss of the Rangers FC defender may take too much from this organised, often heroic, side.

Riise hoping
Liverpool FC's John Arne Riise refused to be too downbeat. He said: "I still think that we can win 1-0 in Oslo. Henning Berg being out, and possibly Roar Strand too depending on his injury, will be a blow. But I think Spain remain under pressure with this result because they know that any top international team can beat another one 1-0 on any given night.

'We had chances'
"The truth is that they did have lots of chances but equally we controlled large parts of the match and in the second half we had a great opportunity to win when [Iker] Casillas saved from Martin Andresen. We knew Spain would throw everything at us but our keeper played fantastically well and in the end they just had too many chances not to score one of them."

Goalkeeping heroics
And despite the leader's performance from Raúl, the bravura show from José Reyes and a darting cameo from Joaquín Sánchez, who created the winning goal, it was Espen Johnsen who easily won the man of the match award. He pulled off two astonishing reflex saves from Reyes, each from about five metres out, and another in the dying moments from Raúl which brought a roar of agony from the capacity Mestalla stadium crowd.

High praise
"I had seen Johnsen only on tape," admitted Spain coach Iñaki Sáez. "But no matter how many times I watched him I still didn't know he was capable of that kind of game!" Johnsen himself was a little bemused by the reaction to his stunning performance and confessed that he was not quite sure how he kept all the chances out.

'Luck and cleverness'
"It was a combination of luck and cleverness," he concluded. "It was great to have practically the game of my life on a night of such importance. The thing which still amazes me was the least remarked upon save when Raúl was straight through again and he just lobbed the ball into my hands. Everyone told me that was his speciality and I was sure he would score." For large parts of the eventful night it seemed as if the same strange inability to convert from a barrowload of chances was going to ruin Spain's qualification chances.

Still optimistic
Baraja, Fernando Torres, Carles Puyol and David Albelda also either missed good chances or saw shots saved but Joseba Etxeberría is realistic about the indications for the return match. The Basque winger said: "We have left ourselves with a dangerous scoreline - but they have to open up their play now.

Defensive change
"If we play to win and impose ourselves on the game again there is no way they can have so much luck a second time.' Carlos Marchena is also suspended after his booking but Sáez said: "We have options and I may play Puyol in central defence and Raul Bravo at left-back."