AUCKLAND — With injury and internal issues hounding Norway, this may be the Philippines’ best chance to strike against the embattled world No. 12.

Thanks to their one-for-the-books 1-0 win over host New Zealand (NZ), the Filipinas are on a high and emboldened going to Sunday’s crucial FIFA Women’s World Cup (WC) match up here.

The same can’t be said of the struggling Norwegians, who only had a 0-0 draw with Switzerland to show coupled with a 0-1 defeat to the Kiwis on opening day.

Norway’s superstar striker, Ada Hegerberg, walked out of the field and headed back to the tunnel mere seconds before the battle with the Group A-leading Swiss.

Lyon’s Mr. Hegerberg, a former Ballon d’Or winner, sustained a groin injury during the final warmup, forcing her to sit out. The six-time Champions League winner’s status for the game against the Filipinas remains up in the air.

After that game, Barcelona’s Caroline Graham Hansen launched a public tirade against coach Hege Riise over getting dropped from the starting XI and coming in as sub versus Switzerland.

Graham Hansen has since made a public apology that Riise accepted.

It’s still an open race for the two tickets to the next round up for grabs in Group A, making the clash between the 46th-ranked Philippines (three points on 1-0-1 win-draw-loss record) and Norway (one point on 0-1-1) a make or break.

Switzerland (four points on 1-1-0) and New Zealand (three points on 1-0-1) face off in the other game gunning for the same.

Whether underpowered or full-strength, Philippine coach Alen Stajcic expects an uber-challenging 90 minutes against 1995 champion Norway.

“That’s such a monumental task for us to come up against them, especially when it’s the third game in a week. So being able to recover physically, let alone from the emotion (of the win over NZ is important),” he said.

For Mr. Stajcic, as long as they come in with the same mentality and character that served them well against the Football Ferns, the Filipinas will be fine.

“There were many incidents that happened in that game (versus NZ) that required composure and discipline and heart and spirit and I think this team’s got it in spades,” he said.

“In all those factors, they’re 10 out of 10. They’re one of the best in the world in terms of unity, collective effort and playing above themselves as a unit. When you have that, it’s really special.” — Olmin Leyba

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