Norway celebrate their Olympics ticket with big win over Tunisia

Having already secured the first place in the Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament #3, Norway made it three out of three against Tunisia, with a dominating performance, closing off a magical weekend for the Scandinavian side in Tatabanya.

Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament #3
Tunisia vs Norway 24:41 (12:20)

For six minutes, Tunisia had something going against Norway, but just as in the previous matches against Hungary and Portugal, their form began to drop, with no momentum in attack and easy goals conceded in defence.

On that note, Norway cruised to a 10:3 run, as wings Sebastian Barthold and Kasper Thorsen Lien combined for six goals in that stint to turn the game on its head and create a 13:7 lead, which proved to be the decisive moment in the match, as Tunisia had nothing in their tank to attempt a comeback.

With Norway being eight goals ahead at the break, the game was over, but Tunisia did not manage to find any other gear, as Norway’s wings were totally on their game, with the Scandinavian side converting all the 10 fast breaks they had.

The gap grow even bigger in the second half, where Norway scored over 20 goals once again, as Sebastian Barthold had 11 goals, Kasper Thorsen Lien had eight goals and Thomas Solstad added six goals for a huge Norway win, 41:24, which was also the largest for Tunisia in this Olympic Qualification Tournament.

With three wins out of three matches, Norway capped off a flawless weekend in Tatabanya, securing their third appearance at the Olympics and breathed new life into a team which had a disappointing outing at the EHF EURO 2024, finishing on the ninth place.

On the other hand, Tunisia finished their second Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament with three losses, as plenty of questions will be asked now about how the African side might change something and return to their dominating form.

hummel Player of the Match: Sebastian Barthold (Norway)