Norway never looked under any real threat from a tired looking Hungarian side which couldn’t break their 20-year quarter-final spell. Epsen Lie Hansen, Sander Sagosen and goalkeeper Bergrund were the backbone in Norway’s win. This result is Norway’s second major semi-final in 12 months and their first ever IHF Men’s Handball World Championship Semi-final.

 

Quarter-final: Norway vs Hungary 31:28 (17:10) in Albertville

Six minutes in and Hungary found themselves up against an airtight defence as Norway ran up 6:1 lead. The sold-out La halle de glace Olympique (6,540) arena in Albertville saw Espen Lie Hansen (6/12) from left back – netting two after 5 minutes – combine especially well with Sander Sagosen (five goals and seven assists) off simple short switches, which opened Hungary’s flat defensive number two and three.

A time-out from Spanish-born Hungary coach Xavier Sabate did little to change the run of play as on the 20-minute mark the Scandinavian side were on double figures (12:6). Norway’s fluid backcourt seemed to have endless combinations at its disposal with Sagosen floating around from left, middle to right back launching effortless switches and overlaps to carve open Hungary’s flatfooted defence. Hungary, on the other hand, looked tired moving forward, relying on moments of individual skill for their goals. Apart from a five-minute spell where Hungary ran up 4:1 (18-23’) with two from Bence Banhidi (6/6), Norway had the game under their full control, going in 17:10 up at half-time.

Norway’s memorising attacking flow continued right into the second half with now right back Kent Robin Tonnesen (5/7) starting to find the net at will. Torbjorn Bergerud was another character who went up in gears in the second half with an overall save rate of 14/41 (34%); a second half performance that earned him best player of the match. While Hungary’s overall and tonight’s top scorer Gabor Csaszar (11/14) and Bence Banhidi were their beacons of hope in attack.

With eight minutes left Richard Bodo popped up to score probably the goal of the game with an 113km rocket from 10 meters out (29:22) as Hungary ran up a 5:1 run. Another 107km shot from Bodo brought them to within five (30:25, 56’). However, this late Hungarian rally topped off with a hat trick from Csaszar (58’, 60’, 60’) at the end was more a factor of Norway taking their foot off the gas – with the bench already celebrating – rather than Hungary really threatening the outcome.

With this three-goal win, Norway now wait just a few hours to see who they will face in their semi-final. The Scandinavian side takes on the winner of Montpellier’s Croatia – Spain tie, on tonight at 20:45.

Player of the Match awarded by Adidas:  Torbjorn BERGERUD (NOR)

 

Post-match reactions: 

Sander Sagosen, (NOR): “It was a great match. We had a game plan and we followed it 100 per cent. We ran over Hungary today. I am really really proud of this team now. We have a lot of confidence. We believe we can beat every team and we are a team that is really really hungry now for the first medal in history and we have the opportunity to take it now – it’s perfect.”

Gabor Csaszar, (HUN): “We played really slowly. This time I didn’t feel the kind of attitude and fighting spirit in the team that we had two days ago against Denmark. Of course, you can’t play every second day like that, to win against the Olympic champions but there was a huge difference between these two matches and that disappoints me a lot.”