Norway played havoc with Croatia: – Promises well

The men’s national handball team got off to a good start at the Olympic warm-up tournament in Oslo when Croatia was beaten 32-26 on Thursday.

In front of 2,717 spectators in Jordal Amfi, national team manager Jonas Wille had a lot to be happy about when the Croatians, who are in the second group in the Paris Olympics, were put in place with the help of good defensive play, high tempo and terrific counter-handball.

– It was tiring, but it’s fun to be a winger in such games. When there is only running back and forth, there are many shots. It was fun, and the way we play bodes well, Alexander Blonz told TV 2. He was Norway’s top scorer with 11 goals.

– We have to get back to being one of the world’s best counterattacking teams, and then we have to run. We can’t stand and fight for every goal, we have to go for the simple goals, said Sander Sagosen, who scored four goals and provided seven assists.

Torbjørn Bergerud contributed with many good saves.

Stand well back

– It was good to get a good start to the tournament. We were very good at the back and Croatia made a lot of technical mistakes. We had a lot of running on them, said Bergerud to TV 2.

With the help of good counter handball, Norway gained an advantage in the first half. The teams followed each other closely at the start, but from 5-7 Norway moved to an 11-8 lead and forced the game’s first timeout.

Blonz was difficult to stop on the left wing and scored five times in his first six stops. In the goal, Bergerud made good saves.

Croatia ate their way in and were only one goal behind, but Simen Ulstad Lyse restored the three-goal lead with two straight scores, both with assists from Sagosen. Lyse scored four goals in as many finishes in the first half. At half-time it was 16-14 to Norway.

– Will probably move

– We have nine counter-attacking goals, they have one, so it is a bit strange that we are not leading more. It’s typical Croatian play with long, tenacious attacks, but we stand up well in defence, and when we get tackled, the technical errors come, assistant coach Martin Boquist told TV 2 during the break.

– The match is 60 minutes, so we should probably get a chance to advance.

Croatia scored the first goal after the break, but then Norway scored four in a row and had a five-goal lead at 20-15.

After the break, Croatia tried hard with seven against six in attack, but were punished when Petter Øverby shot in 24-18 into an empty net from his own half. When Blonz scored his eighth goal with the help of Sagosen’s seventh assist, it was 25-18.

The boss was heard

After two reductions, Jonas Wille took a timeout and asked for better concentration and less sloppiness. He was heard, and the team moved straight up to a seven-goal lead again.

There was never any doubt about the outcome in the final phase, only about how big the Norwegian victory would be.

Kristian Bjørnsen punctuated the score seconds before the end with a forearm tunnel on the keeper to make it 32-26.

Norway meets Denmark on Saturday and Argentina on Sunday.