If people talked about chess in overall, Norway was definitely not the best country in the world. No, that title was reserved only for three countries: the USA, India, and Russia. China might make its case, but its achievement in the chess world was still below those three. As for Norway… Well, they were probably just like Romania or Serbia that the Indonesian team had faced before; solid as rock, but not in the same tear as Poland.
In fact, up until now, they hadn't shown anyone why they should be among the elite teams in the world. Out of their seven matchups, Norway lost two of them in a devastating blow. One against Italy in the third round, and the other one against Australia in the fifth round. Yeah, you've heard it.
Australia!
