norway swept aside by brilliant brazil published: sunday 3 july 2011, 21.00cet
marta scored twice and added an assist as brazil overcame norway 3-0 in wolfsburg to seal a quarter-final berth and leave their european opponents needing to beat australia to advance.
norway have slipped to third in group d at the fifa women's world cup after brazil sealed themselves a spot in the quarter-finals with a 3-0 success in wolfsburg.
eli landsem's charges would have moved top of the section in the event of a win but must now get the better of australia in leverkusen on wednesday if they are to join marta and co in the last eight. indeed, it was marta who caused much of the damage for the south american side, slotting in halfway through the first half before setting up team-mate rosana moments after the restart and adding her second two minutes later.
the wet conditions made life difficult for both teams during the opening exchanges, but the first chance of the game eventually fell to madeleine giske, who could only fire straight at brazil no1 andreia. marta made no such mistake with 22 minutes gone as she raced on to a long pass down the right from erika, burst past one defender and fired low inside the near post after skipping beyond maren mjelde in the area.
brazil ended the half on top too as rosana forced ingrid hjelmseth to tip her first-time effort over. the forward then returned to beat the norway goalkeeper within a minute of the restart courtesy of superb work from marta on the right, and hjelmseth was again helpless as marta fired in after a shot from cristiane had been blocked.
despite a number of late chances, norway were unable to reduce the deficit, leaving them trailing australia on goal difference after their rivals beat equatorial guinea 3-2 earlier in the day. leena khamis, emily van egmond and lisa de vanna all found the net for the matildas, with añonman twice on target for their opponents.
