– It’s so huge – VG

GRANOLLERS (VG) It’s about to make a fantastic debut for Norway. Maren Ardal thought she was supposed to be an “intern”. Instead she became the defensive champion before the World Cup final against France.

– It’s absolutely formidable, says the defense expert who grew up at Byåsen in Trondheim.

– Everything happened much faster than I dared dream. I’ve been abroad all these years. I was not relevant and not in the overall squad for tournaments.

Not many of the Norway girls made their debut by being as central as Aardahl. Her first major tournament for the team might be reminiscent of the early tournaments of players such as Heidi Løke in 2008 (European Gold Championship), Birgit Sættem 1999 (World Gold Cup) and Else-Marthe Sørlie Lybekk 1998 (European Championship Gold).

She was selected for Slovenia’s matches in October, and has made her debut in the last two matches. In November, the make-up call about the World Cup selection came from coach Toni Larsen.

Chosen by Thorir Hergeirsson and his team before Marit Malm Frafjord (36) who has been included in the two World Cup and Olympic victories.

– Then I thought it would be a job as an intern. But then all of a sudden I’m on the court and I have a lot of responsibility. Marin herself says it’s a big dream to reach the World Cup final and play a part in the team.

– She was cruel and showed that she is not 20 years old. She comes and contributes right away. She is very important in the position she now occupies, as defensive neighbor and best player from Norway in both World Cup knockout matches, Carrie Pratsit-Delle describes.

It is important to be mentally strong. Dare to duels, dare to talk, dare to show off, says Györ star and believes Aardahl meets the full specifications of the requirements in the Norwegian Central Defense.

– Collaboration improves from match to match. She thinks we talk really well together and start getting to know each other.

– Does it surprise you?

– I didn’t have low expectations about her. It was just up to expectations.

“It feels so liberating to play with her,” Ardal describes having played the best game of the tournament by his side.

– It’s nice that the things we talked about earlier sit down, she says and talk about the “tilt” and the “correct height” of defense. In short: Norway’s central defense struck Spain in the middle of nowhere. against the host country got Maren Ardal experience what she previously said in WC for VG:

– Best batting to score a goal.

But there was a recording, too. Defense chief Cary Pratsest Dale scored seven goals in as many equal shots.

But the Norwegian national team was very concerned that the defensive match was good after they conceded 28 goals against the Russians, 34 goals against the Netherlands and 30 goals against Sweden last week.

In the final, defense can be very decisive. When Norway beat France in last year’s European Championship final, it ended 22-20. While France beat Norway 23-21 in the World Cup final four years ago.

It refers to the World Cup final with fewer goals and fewer margins. Defending and goalkeeping can be very crucial against tactics of champion Olivier Krumpolls and Olympic champions.

You are not guaranteed to be in the final. But it bodes well. When we were able to lift him up a little bit in the second half, it looked incredibly good,” says Bratst Dale.

– In the semi-finals, we added a few stones to the defense building. It gives self-confidence so that we can stand there and trust that we can get the help we need from each other, as Maren Ardal describes.