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Norway extended the winning streak

A win over Spain saw Norway stay top table as the only team with 6 points in the group and a win today would see them them advance to European Championship semifinals. Norway a heavy favorite, there is not doubt about that

The battle between Norway and Spain proved just why those two teams were undefeated in the EC. It was a consistent game for the most part, with Spain being very good in defense in the first part and their goal keepers recording a lot of saves. 

Norway took the key 4-goal lead in the last third of the game, mostly because their goal keeper Solberg recorded 17 saves to play the key role in Norway's defense. She started many fast breaks that resulted in a total of 7 goals.

Well-experienced right back Riegeluth had shooting efficiency of 78% to score 7 goals (9 attempts) and to finish the game as top Norwiegan scorer. Pivot Loke had a another brilliant performance, having spend almost 55 minutes on the court, playing both defense and offense. The is Norway's top scorer at this Championship and the player with most minutes on the court. Assistant coach Hermasson said Loke might get some time off today:

- I think we'll give her some time off today. She spent by far the most time on the court and we need to rest her for the games that follow - Norway's assistant coach said.

Poland didn't get points in their first game of the second stage, which was pretty much expected. Poland played great defense in the first part, with Stachowska and goal keeper Prudzienica putting up a good show. 

Denmark took control of the pace in the second part to take a 5-goal lead in just 15 minutes. The goal-difference only got higher later on. Poland are bottom table in this group and can no longer hope to win a medal. But, the race for the best final position is still on and Poland want it to be as good as possible to have as favorable draw as possible ahead of the WC 2015 draw. 

Norway and Poland last met in the 2013 WC in Serbia. In the group stage, Norway won 23-18, with Sulland (not here) and Nora Mork, who is third best scored at this EC and the player who took more shots than any other Norwegian at this EC, being the best players. Goal keeper Lunde with 20 saves played an important role as well. She's now being replaced by the young Solberg, who's been doing very well so far.

Poland conceded more goals than any other team in this group, cannot reach semifinals anymore, and will probably record another defeat today. When it comes to their defense, we have to note that they had great problems in dealing with right back players in all of their games. Marta Mangue from Spain scored 5 goals in the Spain game, they conceded 8 to Tomora and Planetu, didn't have solution for Bliznova in the Russia game (7 goals) and allowed Jorgesen of Denmark to score her championship-best 5 goals two days ago. Norway's right back Mork is only their best scorer with 15 goals. She's averaging 3.75 goals per game, which is under this margin, but she is also the Norweigan who takes more shots than anyone else (29 in total, almost 7.5 per game). She has the chance to use shortcomings of Polish defense, she's fast to dribble one-on-one, and knows how to play the Polish team, given her Champions League efficiency. She scored 12 goals combined in two matches for Larvik as they met Polish team Lublin. This is a margin worth this stake.