Northern Ireland manager Kenny Shiels fumes at Nordic referee appointment for Norway Euro2022 loss
- Sean Fisher
- 8 July 2022
After watching his side lose 4-1 to Norway in their opening Euros match, Northern Ireland manager Kenny Shiels had a particular issue with the referee appointment.
Northern Ireland suffered a poor start to their European Championship campaign on Thursday, as Norway ran riot in Southampton to win 4-1.
Julie Blakstad opened the scoring after 10 minutes, and Frida Maanum doubled the lead just three minutes later.
Norway were then awarded a penalty after Nadene Caldwell was deemed to have handled the ball by VAR.
Caroline Graham Hansen converted from the spot to put the result out of reach for Northern Ireland, and manager Kenny Shiels fumed about the referee appointment post-match.
"That was a boo-boo" š§
ā Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) July 8, 2022
Northern Ireland manager Kenny Shiels questioned the referee appointment for his side's 4-1 defeat to Norway in the #WEURO2022 pic.twitter.com/DiOoCWZrEk
"We made mistakes, we were 2-0 down and then they get a penalty where the ball hits the player in the upper arm and the Nordic referee, who was refereeing a game involving a Nordic team, gave the penalty," said Shiels.
"But I don't for one minute say it was because she was the referee. I'm just saying those statistics were there and it made it really hard for her to referee and UEFA are very precise and they tell you what to do and they are so exact that I think that was a boo-boo.
"But most referees under the new ruling would probably have given it anyway but I'm just saying that it was tough for us."
Finnish official Lina Lehtovaara was in charge of the match, and while Shiels was quick to criticise, the 66-year-old manager then quickly retracted his statement.
"I'm just talking to you as people; people with the same types of feelings that we all have.
"It's not a big thing, it's just a passing comment, so don't worry about it."
Guro Reiten's free-kick after the break ensured Northern Ireland's first appearance at a major tournament would end in defeat, although they didn't leave empty-handed, with Julie Nelson's consolation at least giving fans something to cheer.
Including qualifying, Northern Ireland have conceded 21 goals during the Euro 2022 campaign.
ā Squawka (@Squawka) July 7, 2022
16 of them have been scored by Norway. š #WEURO2022 pic.twitter.com/cSq8niG09R
With Norway now top of Group A via goal difference, they're next match is against England, who won their opener against Austria 1-0 earlier this week.
The two sides face each other on Monday, July 11, with kick-off at the Falmer Stadium scheduled for 20:00 BST.
