Norway cruise past Hungary for a fray against Germany

27 Jan. 2023

Norway cruise past Hungary for a fray against Germany

Norway bounced back after a tough defeat against Spain in the quarter-finals of the World Championship and claimed a victory against Hungary. The Scandinavian side was in front throughout the whole match and resisted all the Hungarian efforts to make a change. On Sunday (29 January), Norway will play against Germany for fifth place, while Hungary and Egypt enter the fray for seventh place.

Placement Matches 5-8

Norway vs Hungary 33:25 (16:13)

It was another shocking start to the match for Hungary. After Adrián Sipos's red card after only 48 seconds against Portugal, Hungary's second top scorer at the World Championship, Miklós Rosta, received his direct disqualification after 52 seconds. Not having him in the attack was a problem for Chema Rodríguez, but Bence Bánhidi gave his best to replace him despite having a tough time at the line.

Norway had an early momentum setting a 5:2 lead, but soon Hungary consolidated and Zoran Ilić found a space on the right side, closing the gap to one. After equalizing to 6:6, Hungary ran into a series of mistakes allowing Gøran Johannessen to restore a three-goal lead.

Patrik Ligetvári took over the court mid-way through the first half, netting three times after five minutes on the court and was one of the bright sides of the Hungarian attack. Both Kristian Sæverås and Roland Mikler were trying to make a difference between the posts with a 30% save efficiency, but the defences in front of them were helping them.

At the end of the first half, we could say that turnovers were to be blamed for a three-goal gap, as the Hungarians made seven in comparison with Norway's two. 

Mikler had a great start to the second half with three saves, but his teammates did not take the opportunity right away. Norway were holding on to their lead up until the 37th minute when Bendegúz Bóka reduced the deficit to 17:18.

Right at the moment when Hungary seemed to be ready to turn the tide, their spark dimmed, causing a new break for the opponents. Sander Sagosen was responsible for almost half of Norway's goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

"Continue playing as you know and complete the actions we started", said Chema Rodríguez to his players as he called for a time-out right after the Scandinavians hit the five-goal lead.

It just was not a good time for the Hungarian attack, and Torbjørn Bergerud made sure it stayed that way. Bergerud shone for his side in the second half, ending it with a 41% save efficiency. Centre back Egon Hanusz tried to reduce the deficit but was stopped for the fifth time in the match, leaving him at zero goals scored.

From there, it all went downhill for Hungary, who could not score for six minutes straight and their opponents propelled to a 4-0 run. The six-goal lead could have been a final nine-goal win, but Mikler got his ninth save of the day and set the final 25:33.

hummel Player of the Match: Sander Sagosen (Norway)