The Norwegian handball team won a dramatic World Cup fight in Hamburg with 31-25 over Germany on Friday. Now it’s about gold against Denmark in Boxen on Sunday.
Norway moved to 19-15 and 20-16 before 37 minutes were played. The Germans ended up in a wilderness, and had to hunt for catches and eventually take chances. It’s not a good combination.
But the Germans managed to pull it off quite well for some time. They never gave up, but in their own defence, the lights went out for Germany.
Bjarte Myrhol was very important at the start of the 2nd round with several goals in a short time, but it was the collective that saved Norway on a day where the keepers struggled. On the other hand, Torbjørn Bergerud stood out with several key plays.
Thus, Norway plays its second World Cup final in as many years. In 2017, there was a loss against France. Two of the last three World Cup finals have been won by the host nation. Denmark could further strengthen those statistics.
‘’Now I’m happy, crazy happy. I can’t bear to start analysing the game yet” said national team chief, Christian Berge, to TV 3 before starting analysis anyway.
‘It worked very well for us. They had several defense variants, but we got good solutions. We played smart at times. A huge effort by the guys.’’
Germany had strong backing in Hamburg. The home audience envisioned the possibility of a new World Cup title and the first since 2007.
But it didn’t go the Germans way. Norway received a revival for the European Championship loss in 2016. In that semi-final, the Germans sent in a player towards the end to stop Norway’s opportunity for equalising.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today