'Unbelievable' Norway leave Berget buzzing
Saturday, June 8, 2013
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Norway's players were in euphoric mood after the 3-1 win over England with Jo Inge Berget calling his team "unbelievable", in stark contrast to a downbeat Jason Lowe.
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Jo Inge Berget hailed his Norway side as "unbelievable" after they boosted their UEFA European Under-21 Championship semi-final prospects with a 3-1 win against England, in which he scored a fine second goal. While there was joy in the Norway camp, there was only disappointment for England whose midfielder Jason Lowe lamented their failings in both boxes following the Group A contest.
Jo Inge Berget, Norway forward
It was two teams who had to win and we knew England were going to give it to us at the start; we had to be ready for that. We struggled in the first ten minutes coping with them but then we got together and worked hard. In the first game [2-2 against Israel] we didn't take our chances but today we did and against England you have to do that. The fighting spirit and the way that we won today was unbelievable – it was a great win for us.
[Mine] was a great goal. You know sometimes when you hit it that it is going in. [The heat] was equal for both teams. We really wanted this a lot and I think we showed that today. The games [in qualifying] were quite equal and they didn't beat us by a lot. We lost two games against them, so we had a bit of revenge today.
[The door to the semi-finals] is open. We're not there yet but we're good enough. It's a confidence boost beating England 3-1 with some great goals, great spirit. We have to bring that home. We beat France [in the play-offs] and now we've beaten England, two of the top teams in Europe, so it's great for us.
Marcus Pedersen, Norway forward
It's so nice to beat England 3-1. It's amazing. The only thing that was missing was a goal for me! The team worked so hard together and played very smart today. I am so grateful now I have no words. We're going to keep thinking about this match tonight and then think about the Italians tomorrow.
[The arrival of four players from the senior squad] gives us confidence. It's four good players and we've also shown that we are a very good team. We have so many players who can play everywhere.
Jason Lowe, England midfielder
There's a lot of disappointed faces in there. It's just not meant to be but we'll go back in the morning and reflect on everything that went wrong and try and put it right against Israel.
We did start brightly – we put the ball in certain areas but I don't think we got enough men in the box. To be fair, when you're on top you want to score and we didn't do that and then they punished us with a set play which was very disappointing. One thing we've always got is a drive and a never-say-die attitude and we did everything to try and score in that second half. The heat is a factor for both teams to deal with and that's not an excuse.
Against Israel we'll try to get three points and try to leave with a bit of pride.
Nathan Redmond, England winger
I'm just disappointed. I felt we dominated the game but never punished them enough and with three chances, they scored three goals. [The first goal] was a bit of a blow, especially as we dominated most of the first 20-30 minutes, and they kept catching us on the break. I'd like to see the possession stats, but that's just football. We need to go in to the next game and get some pride and get the victory.
It's been a positive experience but I really wanted to go on and do well in the tournament – the track record in the two years leading up to this tournament has been unreal, they've played really well and barely conceded any goals and the standard of player here has really helped me up my game.