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Julie Nelson scored Northern Ireland's historic first goal of the tournament
PHOTO: JOHN SIBLEY / REUTERS
There was a bit of Brazilian carnival at the end on the banks of the River Itchen in Southampton.
The 1990s hit 'Samba de Janeiro' blared from the speakers at St Mary's Stadium as the players of the Northern Ireland national team walked up to their fans, applauding them for their support and sometimes even high-fiving and taking selfies with the crowd.
The fans stood by the whole game, and they also stood by the team during the final act together, clapping their hands or using the clapping papers that are distributed in the stadiums at the European Championships.
If you didn't know better, looking at the serene scene would not have occurred to you that Northern Ireland had just lost - 4-1 in the first group game to favorites Norway.
Many of Northern Ireland's players are amateurs
From the point of view of the Northern Irish audience, the cliché applies that taking part is everything.
The team is worse off in the Fifa world rankings than all other EM participants, namely in 47th place, behind Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Many of the players are amateurs, have normal jobs and play football in their spare time.
With the qualification for the competitions in England, the Northern Irish made history.
For the first time ever, they are taking part in a major tournament.
Anything other than last place in Group A with Norway, England and Austria would be a sensation.
The fans know that. Nevertheless, many of them have made the journey to Southampton, the site of all of Northern Ireland's preliminary round matches.
They celebrate that their team gets to play a small role on the big stage, regardless of the results.
As expected, Northern Ireland was clearly inferior to Norway's star selection with national team returnees Ada Hegerberg (Olympique Lyon), Caroline Graham Hansen (FC Barcelona) and Guro Reit (FC Chelsea).
The game was decided after half an hour, it was 3:0 at that point.
Coach Kenny Shiels has dedicated his team game culture.
Instead of hitting the ball forward, the Northern Irish consistently try to play out from behind.
Against a side of Norway's quality, that proved breakneck.
Nevertheless, Shiels left no doubts about the approach afterwards: »To get better, we have to take big risks.
If we just play not to lose, we don't improve."
The coach is known for edgy statements and sometimes overshoots the mark.
In April, after a 5-0 loss to England in World Cup qualifiers, he sparked outrage by remarking that women's teams were conspicuously conceding multiple goals in a short space of time because women were more emotional than men.
Nevertheless, he enjoys the highest regard among his players.
For many of them he is a father figure.
Northern Ireland audiences adore Shiels for bringing women's football back to the fore in the country that even disbanded its national team at the turn of the millennium.
In addition to a game idea, he has taught the Northern Irish women a new seriousness.
Being there is everything – from his point of view, that is expressly not the case.
“I don't want good losers.
We cannot be satisfied with just being good.
We have to be better,” he said after the game against Norway.
Even what is probably the weakest team in the tournament is competitive
That's harsh, because his team had indicated that they could resist the superior opponents at the European Championship, after all.
In qualifying, there were two more 6-0 defeats against Norway.
In comparison, a 1:4 reads almost friendly.
The team did not concede a loss so severe that it would call into question the integrity of women's football or indicate an unhealthy disparity in performance at the EURO.
Even the lowest-ranked team in the tournament is reasonably competitive.
"We showed why we're here and that we deserve to be here," said Captain Sarah McFadden.
The team experienced a moment for eternity in the 49th minute.
Norway were unable to clear a corner, playmaker Rachel Furness' attempted shot flew parallel to the goal line and Julie Nelson headed in at the far post.
It was Northern Ireland's historic first goal at a tournament and it was more than the side could have expected.
The Northern Ireland girls threw themselves at Nelson as if they had just decided a World Cup final, such was the joy.
It was symbolic that she had hit the target.
She has been playing for the national team since it was founded in 2004, is Northern Ireland's record capper and, at 37 years and 33 days, has recently become the oldest goalscorer in European Championship history.
In her youth, as she has just reported, Steffi Graf was her role model - because there were no other prominent athletes to look up to.
Meanwhile, Nelson himself has become such a role model.
