Martin Sjögren, Norway manager, later said it was England’s first goal, a rather soft penalty that unsettled his side. “We started to crack a little and made some bad decisions,” he said. There is some truth in that. After Thorisdottir conceded the penalty, she seemed frozen, unsure of her every touch, her every move, as if haunted by her mistake.
However, Sjögren’s claim is not the whole truth. To attribute Norway’s collapse solely to individual errors is essentially confusing symptom with cause. The problem that caused Sjogren’s side to bend and break so spectacularly was not an isolated series of unrelated incidents, but a systemic deficiency. England showed their hand and their opponent failed miserably to adapt.
Of course, part of the responsibility for this lies with the players. Mjelde and Thorisdottir are certainly experienced enough to have recognized their team’s weakness and reacted accordingly: maybe they’re just sitting a little lower, or they refuse to be lured out of their line by White’s movement, or they’re drawing Blakstad closer to offer more protection.
But much of it falls on the shoulders of Sjogren himself. A string of individual errors might be evidence of a major psychological failure, but it’s far more likely to be evidence of a flaw in a team’s strategy. High quality players only consistently make bad decisions when faced with limited options. And that ultimately depends on the coach.
The caliber of players in women’s football, particularly in Europe, has risen sharply in recent years. The slick, technical style that has been rampant at this summer’s European Championships has proven that in ample measure. However, it’s hard to argue that the quality of the coach has taken much the same evolution.