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Norway hope to freeze out Germany to reach World Cup Final

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Perfecseun gives a form guide for the first semi-final at the Women's World Cup

It's the second time Norway and Germany will meet in a space of 4 weeks and the third time this year. The last match was a friendly match in Mainz, Germany and the result could be a pointer to the outcome of this semi-final.

Norway have not been under the spotlight in this tournament apart from their last 2 games, the 7-2 hammering of Ghana and the quarterfinal against the Steel Roses. Norway is usually a quiet team but effective in all areas of the field, as the hosts China found out in their 1-0 defeat by the Scandinavians. Coming into this World Cup, Norway was one of the 3 teams that could upset the Big 2, Germany and USA, and results so far this year against Germany suggest this will be the hardest test for the reigning world champions.

Germany lost 2-1 to Norway earlier this year and during the recent friendly, the Norwegians took the lead on 2 occasions before Prinz levelled the match in the last 15 minutes to finish 2-2. If there is a team that can mastermind a victory over Germany, it is Norway. They know how to keep the Germans at bay defensively and also how to score against them - even though their attack is probably the weakest part of the team. With a strong back four and an experienced keeper from the World Cup winning squad of 1995, Norway will be hard to break down.

The approach from the Germans won't be any different to their last couple of matches; to contain the opposition in the first 45 minutes. Energy levels are dropping across all teams mainly because of the climatic conditions in China, and Germany and the USA have the oldest squads in the competition. Hence, this won't be a high tempo game and it will suit both teams to start slowly.

There is nothing new to say about Germany as this team has been around for a while. Both teams know each other well enough and with what is at stake, it won't be a surprise to see a very cagey affair. Norway does not do well in front of goal when the opposition has a solid defence - against China and Canada they only scored just once in each game. Germany meanwhile haven't conceded a goal so far in this tournament, scoring 5 in the last 3 matches (that's if you disregard the Argentina match where they scored 11 goals and the Ghana match where Norway netted 7 times) - that equates to 1.6 goals per match.

Suggested Bet: Back Under 2.5 goals @ 2.02. Back Norway +1.25 and a small stakes lay on Germany to win the match @ 1.61