After the results today, the 5/6 Placement Match will be Norway vs. Sweden and 7/8 will be Brazil vs. Denmark.

Brazil vs. Norway 31:32 (3:2 7m, 29:29, 16:15)

Norway beat Brazil via a penalty shoot-out in the first Placement Round 5-8 match this morning at the Divs sports hall in Ekaterinburg.

The result means that Norway awaits the winners of the Scandinavian duel between Denmark and Sweden taking place straight after this match.

Norway, playing against a wide open defence at time, enjoyed exploiting the space afforded and led throughout the first half for exactly 26 minutes without being too troubled but a late run from the South Americans saw Gabriel Jung add his fourth and fifth goals of the half to put his side one up at the break.

Between Marcos Colodeti and Rangel Rosa, the Brazilians formed a formidable wall and as the ball was turned over and saved in the last seconds by both teams Gabriel Gondim equalised to make it 29:29.

But the Scandinavians still had 14 seconds left to score and following a team time out the ball fell to the normally reliable Eirik Kopp, but the big Norwegian missed, with help from the Brazilian goalkeeper Colodeti and straight to 7m penalties it went - as per the playing regulations of the Placement Round 5-8.

Brazil went first and, unbelievably, the first three penalties were not scored; first Pedro Pachedo had his saved by Karl Stenkjaer, then Simen Schoenningsen had his saved by Colodeti. Sensing a chance to go ahead Leonardo Ferreira then went for the smash down the middle but it hit the crossbar and went high.

Finally putting a goal on the scoresheet was Kevin Gullisken who sunk his to make it 1:0 to Norway. Leonardo Silveira then made it 1:1, but Magnus Roed and Lasse Thorsbye both missed the next two Norway penalties, punctuated by a strike from Caue Baptista to make it 2:1 to Brazil.

All Jung had to do was to score and win the game for Brazil but he missed and Tormod Hauane struck home to take it to the second round of five penalties and sudden death.

After a break to decide on the new running order, Norway started with Hauane and his hot hand scoring again and with the pressure on Silveira to score again, he hit the crossbar and Norway won.

Silveira was in tears at the end as his side had come so close to finishing in a potential top five position but for Magnus Roed, who missed a penalty, it was evidence of Norway trying to finish Russia 2015 in the best possible way.

“Sometimes you have a situation where you have to go all the way to penalties,” said Roed after the game. “Today we had to do it and we showed mental strength dealing with these penalties, it’s a really good feeling.

“We do care about these games - it’s about our own self-esteem.  We want to beat all the teams we face and finish as high as possible; that’s what we want.

“It’s exciting to play [against such an open defence], we ran from every play and every game we have had experiences so we can use this today for when we face Brazil next time.

“It’s been a great experience for us here in Russia 2015. We have been here together 15 days and our camaraderie is very good.

“It looks promising [for us] for the future - it will be strange to be away from these guys when we return to Norway; they’re like my family now.”

For Brazilian goalkeeper Rangel Rosa, he is already thinking about their next game against either Denmark or Sweden.

“We were disappointed at the end of the game of course,” he said. “We missed some small details at the end of the second half, but the team now are OK.

“We are already thinking about the 7/8 position game and we want to finish in seventh.”

Sweden vs. Denmark 27:25 (12:12)

Sweden booked a date with Norway tomorrow to fight for 5/6 place at Russia 2015 thanks to a two-goal win over Denmark in a match that maybe lacked the passion of a derby but was as tight as any game between neighbouring countries.

There was little to choose from in the first half as the players enjoyed themselves in a familiar 6:0 playing style - of note was an expertly taken strike from Anton Hallback to make it 2:2 in the fourth minute.

A frantic scoring period of six goals in four minutes followed with Sweden 26:24 up and three minutes remaining but a special save from Andreas Bjorkman from Nicolaj Norager with 90 seconds left  and the score at 26:24 meant that the Swedes would be victorious and despite a late Lasse Nikolajsen strike with 16 seconds left, Hallback went up the other end to smash home and make it 27:25 as the Danes protested in vain for Swedish timewasting.