Norway

Insulated from the world's hot spots by its location and its wealth, Norway has become something of a global Good Samaritan. In recent years, it has opened its doors to war refugees, its treasury to impoverished nations, and its conference halls to secret envoys for peace. "I think it has to do with service, of doing something," said Arnulv Torbjornsen, a Norwegian who heads the nongovernmental aid unit at the headquarters of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.

RFK Stadium was lively last night. The Olympic soccer tournament had Italy playing for its life against defending bronze medalist Ghana, and a rematch of last year's women's world championship match between Norway and Germany. The women's game matched the marquee teams, but the men put on the show. In the first half alone, there were dazzling passing and dribbling by Ghana, a beautiful goal by an Italian journeyman, more tough saves by Italian goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca than he had to make in the '94 World Cup final - and all of it overshadowed by some of the worst refereeing ever seen in a major soccer competition.

Out on the floor, the Danes were opening up a big, ol' can of whomp 'em. But, sure as there are fjords in Norway, the feeling was it couldn't last. There is nothing better in sports than the great "border wars" - Oklahoma-Texas or Georgia-Florida in football, Indiana-Kentucky in basketball. Here in one of the cavernous exhibition halls of the Georgia World Congress Center yesterday, on the rubberized floor slightly bigger than a basketball court, Hilde Ostbo of Norway had just blocked a seven-meter penalty throw by Denmark's Anette Hoffman, and the Norwegian fans were going wild.

When he was less than a year old, Paul Hansen was taken by his mother to a Nazi-run orphanage in German-occupied Norway, where a generation of Aryan children were being groomed to rule the world. Hansen and hundreds of other Norwegian youngsters fathered by German soldiers got their start in life here in the Godthaab Home on the outskirts of Oslo. Nurses in white starched uniforms kept strict discipline and spoke to the children only in German. The children's physical growth and "racial fitness" were summarized in annual progress reports.

Norway jumped on the United States from the opening whistle, getting two goals in the first 4 minutes to beat the U.S. women's soccer team, 2-0, in an opening-round Group G game in Qinhuangdao, China. Leni Larsen Kaurin outjumped and outmuscled U.S. defender Lori Chalupny to head the ball over charging goalkeeper Hope Solo and into an open net in the 2nd minute. Two minutes later, Melissa Wiik latched onto a deep pass on the right side after the United States lost the ball in midfield.

From inside the igloo, you can barely hear the cowbells clang as the skiers race by. The foot-thick snow-brick walls muffle sound well. In the tiny living room, light filters through chinks in the ceiling. There is a circular, raised mound of snow in the middle of the room - a sort of coffee table - with a hole cut in the center of it for a small fire. The living room is maybe 8-by-8. Holes in the back lead to the two bedrooms, which are just large enough for sleeping bags.

OSLO, Norway - Norwegians who lost loved ones on Utoya island relived the horror Friday as far-right fanatic Anders Behring Breivik described in harrowing detail how he gunned down teenagers as they fled in panic or froze before him, paralyzed with fear. Survivors and victims' relatives hugged and sobbed during the graphic testimony. "I'm going back to my hometown tonight. My husband, he's going to drive me out to the sea, and I'm going to take a walk there and I'm going to scream my head off," said Christin Bjelland, whose teenage son survived the attack.

Amazing things can happen at the World Cup. Norway, with a midfielder from above the Arctic Circle, can beat Mexico, with a goalkeeper from Acapulco. It can happen on a sun-drenched day like the Scandinavians have never experienced before, on a lone goal somehow scored in the 85th of 90 muscle-aching minutes, when Norway should have long since wilted. A goal scored by the quiet son of a sheep farmer. And here come those Norwegians again, the ones everyone remembers from Lillehammer wearing their Viking helmets and ringing their cow bells and huddling in ice bunkers for days just to watch some cross-country race.

The U.S. women dominated early, fell behind, celebrated a miracle goal - and then watched it all end in an instant. It was, the players understood, the end of an era. Norway, the only country ever to defeat the United States in a major soccer tournament, did it again last night, pulling off a 3-2 stunner with a sudden-death goal in the 102d minute of the Olympic women's final at the Sydney Football Stadium. U.S. defender Brandi Chastain, who prides herself on knowing as much as anyone about the history of the game - and has created a chunk of it herself - quickly labeled it the greatest women's game ever played.

The last time the U.S. women's soccer team faced Norway in a major competition, U.S. star Brandi Chastain called it the greatest women's game ever played. "There was buildup, there was drama, there were near misses," Chastain said right after the 2000 Olympic final. "Everything that goes into a game for the ages. The best game possible. " Imagine what she would have said if the United States had won. Heading into tonight's Women's World Cup quarterfinal against Norway in Foxboro, Mass.