Norway excited for fresh World Cup opportunity says Chelsea’s Mjelde | OneFootball

Chelsea defender Maren Mjelde says that Norway are excited to get their FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign underway with a fixture against co-hosts New Zealand on Thursday.

Norway were world champions in 1995 but they have never repeated that feat, a fourth-place finish being their next best performance since that victory, something that they achieved in both 1999 and 2007.

The Norwegians have largely performed poorly in major tournaments since finishing as runners-up at the UEFA Women’s EURO in 2013 but defender Mjelde says that the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 provides the nation with an exciting new opportunity.

“In 2013, it was a really good tournament for us as a nation but we haven’t really done well after that,” Mjelde said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “The World Cup in 2019 was a good tournament but it came to an end against England in the quarter-final. We know what happened last year but this is the good thing about football, you get new chances and new experiences.

“We are really looking forward to what is ahead and we have a good mix with some new players who have never played tournament games and many who have played them before. We always want to try and do well for Norway; maybe we haven’t done that in the last couple of tournaments but there have still been good moments. Hopefully, we can do great this summer.”

Thursday’s tournament opener against New Zealand sees Norway come up against a nation that they don’t usually face all that often. Mjelde feels that Norway have prepared well by playing other nations from outside of Europe.

She said “We have travelled to a new part of the world, a new continent and that affects our preparation.

“We have played lots of different opponents from across the world and I feel like we have prepared very well. We are looking forward to it and we are excited.”

Norway’s opening Group A fixture against New Zealand kicks-off at 8am on Thursday morning.