Women's World Cup: Norway 1, Eq'tor'l Guinea 0

AUGSBURG, Germany, June 29 (UPI) -- Emilie Haavi's goal in the 84th minute Wednesday allowed Norway to escape with a 1-0 win over Equatorial Guinea in their Women's World Cup Group D opener.

The African side, which entered its first World Cup competition as the 61st-ranked team in the world, proved a feisty opponent for the ninth-ranked Norwegians with striker Genoveva Anonman maneuvering for several scoring chances only to come up short.

"I was happy with Anonman," Equatorial Guinea Coach Marcello Frigerio said. "She had good and bad moments, but still has lots of potential. This game was a valuable experience that we will use it for the next game."

Norway came close to scoring 2 minutes into the match when a shot by Haavi from inside the penalty area hit the post, but otherwise did little offensively in the first half.

"We wasted opportunities during the match but we also had some bad luck," Norway Coach Eli Landsem said. "Our objective is to gain as many points as possible and that will be our goal for the next match. It was an important win as it was our first match, although we would have liked more goals."

Both teams return to Group D play Sunday with Equatorial Guinea facing Australia and Norway meeting Brazil.