The reigning European champions Norway said goodbye to the Norwegian co-hosted part of the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship, sweeping away Netherlands in a 30:23 quarter-final victory at the Trondheim Spektrum.

The co-hosts now move to the semi-finals in Herning, Denmark, while the Netherlands play for fifth place.

Quarter-finals
Netherlands vs Norway 23:30 (11:12)

A strong second half performance from Norway in front of HRH Crown Prince Haakon and nearly 8,600 Norwegians fans was just the medicine needed for Thorir Hergeirsson’s side after the sickly feeling left following their defeat to Olympic champions France in their last main round group game on Sunday.

The Netherlands had entered the game with six wins in a row and were buoyed early on by a consistent lead as Norwegian turnovers and suspensions threatened to ruin the big send-off in Trondheim.

In a low-scoring first half, Norway led 1:0 after five minutes, thanks to an ineffective Netherlands attack which saw them miss four shots in a row.

Despite this lacklustre start from the Dutch, playing in an unfamiliar light blue kit, they turned it around to lead 2:1 (7th minute) and then 4:2 two minutes later, following an open goal strike from goalkeeper Yara Ten Holte – she had made five saves (63%) with the opening 10 minutes.

But Norway came back to go on a 3:0 run and turn it around (5:4), before pushing ahead even more (8:4, 18th minute), preventing their opponents from scoring for 10 minutes.

Eventual best player of the match Silje Solberg then started to make her own impact felt, recording her eighth stop on the 20th minute mark and when Nora Mork finally opened her own account with her fourth attempt in the 27th minute, you could sense the energy sapping from the Netherlands.

But in a game where 19 saves had already been made inside the first 30 minutes, Per Johansson managed to push his team to dig deep and take advantage of a double Norwegian suspension to go in at the break just one down (11:12) – and it could have even been all equal.

The fact that Norway had already made 11 turnovers in the first 30 minutes, alongside five suspensions, showed how much they were out of sorts, but they are not reigning world champions without reason.

Stine Skogrand was employed further up court, in a right wing position and her further five strikes started to damage the Dutch, whose attack went well under 50% as they ground to a halt.

When Johansson took a time out with a third of the match remaining, his side were three behind (15:18) and the game was starting to slip out of their grasp. 

This three-goal lead came as part of a 6:0 scoring run (38th-55th minute) to put the Norwegians seven up (22:15) and end any Dutch hopes of progression.

With the Dutch only chipping away slightly, a five-goal Norwegian lead entering the last 10 minutes (24:19, 49th), saw the Netherlands finally run out of steam.

hummel Best Player of the Match: Silje Solberg (Norway)

What they said - quotes from the post-match media conference

Thorir Hergeirsson, Norway coach:
"We started very well in defence and goalkeeper Silje (Solberg) was excellent today. In attack, we created many good chances, but (Netherlands goalkeeper Yara) Ten Holte saved too much (laughs). We wanted to use these opportunities better, but she's good.

"We also did a lot of technical faults, we had 10 in the first half; some substitutions went wrong, there was a little bit of chaos in the last 10-15 minutes (of the first half), some suspensions, two minutes, but when we got to the rest (changing) room they (the players) were very, very cool and focused so we decided to keep on going, play the same play, but be more accurate and more focused and I think the second half was very good."

Kari Brattset Dale, Norway player:
"We struggled a little bit in the first half. I felt the defence was really good, but we got a little bit too many two-minutes (suspensions) so we played with one less (player) a lot of the time.

"We had a chance to lead more at half-time, but the Netherlands also put up a great fight and showed which team they are. We had to really put on our best show to make it in the end.

"I'm proud of how the team (Norway) stood in the half-time (break). We are really calm and together as a team. Then we put the defence even stronger in the second half and we could run a bit more and get some more easy goals. Then we had the victory."

Per Johansson, Netherlands coach:
"We were well-prepared for Norway. We especially showed this in our defence and Yara (Ten Holte - goalkeeper) came out strong directly (from the start).

"Maybe it was stress from both sides, but also Norway didn't play their best positional attack and we didn't either. I have to say that we were quite happy just to be under by one goal at the (half-time) break.

"Normally this team is good to correct things (but in) the second half we had problems to find a good rhythm in the attack and also we had a little bit problem to get the counter-goals that we need for this team but this is also a compliment to the Norwegian team who also looked at our weak and strong things.

"This time, they were superior over 60 minutes, especially in their defence, which meant that we ended up in a situation that we maybe don't want to have. (We made) the life easy for (Silje) Solberg in goal, for the goalkeepers for Norway, and then they can start fast and furious attacking on the counter.

"Many of the counters were hard for us to fix because we were finishing the attack in a 'non-proper' way. We knew (Norway) has the best couple (of goalkeepers) in the world but we had expected a little bit more flow and to carry a bit more self-belief from our main and preliminary and main round wins.

"In the end, it was a clear victory for Norway, well-deserved and they, once again, showed they are the best team in the world. It was our world championship final because I think that even if we had beat Norway, we would have not played any better team in the semi-finals or final.

"I want to give a big compliment to the organiser for this hall. How they designed it for the public. It was a great experience for my team. Unfortunately, we could not use this environment, because we need to be better when we play Norway."

Lois Abbingh, Netherlands player:
"From the beginning, we didn't have the flow in our attack that we had had for six really good games, but that's also a compliment to Norway and their defence, but especially their goalkeepers. Then you know it's hard when you find chances but you don't score and then you start to force things.

"We came quite good by half-time, but we just didn't start good again in the second half. We really need to be better in this.

"It's a major accomplishment by Norway, they did a great job. We have a lot of things we can improve. In the end, we tried 5-1, we go in 1-plus.

"The result is higher than we want. We are disappointed. But we have two more games that we want to fight for and we want to end this tournament in a really good way."