Norway end Austria’s Egyptian dreams

18 Jan. 2021

Norway end Austria’s Egyptian dreams

Ales Pajovic’s Austria were given a second chance of qualification through to the main round today, when France finally overcame Switzerland in the early match, meaning an Austria win would have seen them, and not the Swiss through.
 
But Norway are warming up after their opening day defeat to France, and were never behind, with the Austrians only able to draw level twice, in the opening four minutes.
 
GROUP E
Norway vs Austria 38:29 (20:17)
 
On Saturday, Norway’s France-born left-winger Alexandre Blonz feared his 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship campaign would be over before it had started.
 
Having not played any seconds in their opening 28:24 defeat against his country of birth, the Elverum player hurt his knee in the warm-up against Switzerland and left the court for treatment. Later, it was diagnosed as a sprained knee, a knee he had injured last year.
 
But today, he showed no ill-effects, scoring seven goals as he helped secure a second win in two for Christian Berge’s side, who later said of the Elverum player, “he’s a class player and made many right choices today.”
 
Berge shuffled his pack going into this game, making two squad changes to the one which beat Switzerland, welcoming Petter Overby back after he recovered from a stomach bug which had kept Christian O’Sullivan out against France.
 
“It was very good to use a lot more players this time as I used the same players in the first two games because we had some challenges,” admitted the Norway coach later.
 
Berge’s side were already four ahead (6:2) by the seventh minute following a 4:0 run. By the 20th minute they were six ahead (16:10) and well in charge, but Austria showed their fighting spirit to half the deficit by the break in a high-scoring first half featuring 37 goals (20:17).
 
“I can be happy with the first half; my guys were fighting, and we were in the game” said Austria coach Ales Pajovic. “But then the power went out a little bit in the second half and Norway showed a quality, they played 60 minutes all the time forward.”
 
Norway’s Robin Tonnesen, who did not feature against Switzerland was also impressive, scoring goals at crucial points (7 shots from 8 attempts), while line player Thomas Solstad and right wing Kevin Maagero Gulliksen also got their first minutes. Sander Sagosen scored nine times, to lead the top-scoring again and make it 30 strikes in three games to lead the Egypt 2021 scoring charts.
 
“We took one more step,” added Berge. “It was a fast game today with a lot of running and a lot of attacks. There were some challenges in defence with their line player in the first half and we made it a bit difficult for ourselves when we missed some clear opportunities but all in all, a good game.”
 
While Norway look to main round encounters with Portugal, Iceland and Algeria, Austria will look towards the President’s Cup where they will initially face Morocco, Chile, and Republic of Korea.
 
“I saw some positive things from my team and from there we have to work,” added Pajovic. “We have four more games - it’s not what we hoped for, but we have to use it.”
 
hummel Player of the Match: Kent Robin Tonnesen, Norway