Russia devastatingly lost to Norway in the quarter finals of the 2021 World Handball Championship – match result
The Russian national team lost to the Norwegian national team in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Women’s World Handball Championship, which takes place in Spain. The Russians lost 28:34 and finished eighth in the tournament. At the last World Championship in 2019, the Russian national team took third place, and before that it became the world champion in 2009, when the team was led by Evgeny Trefilov.
Defense, where are you?
At major competitions, the national teams of Russia and Norway have nowhere to meet each other more often – it is difficult to remember a tournament where the handball classics would not have been.
And if in most cases the team’s forces were equal, then this time the Norwegians were considered simply unconditional favorites. Moreover, they were extremely motivated after the defeat in the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics.
Moreover, they have retained their Olympic composition, and our team has been greatly renewed.
The chances of our team were to run across the jet Norwegians and play very tough on the defensive. In addition to the fact that it was necessary and to score.
Unfortunately, all the pre-start alignments in the first half came true.
The Norwegians were faster, more precisely, meaner, tougher. They simply tore apart the center of our defense at the expense of speed – and the ball moved quickly, and moved quickly themselves. Well, not only the center, but the whole defense in general.
“Move her from her place!”
It got to the point that when the score was 5: 9, the head coach of the Russian national team Lyudmila Bodnieva took a time-out and went through her wards hard. The claims were about the defense: passive, not blocking the opponents’ throws, making no attempt at interception at all!
“If you cannot take the correct position – move it from the place!” – threw our coach.
Our game did not go well in the attack either. From the point of view of the combination game, only the bunch of Elena Mikhailichenko and Anastasia Illarionova worked: the welterweight pulled back two rivals and in a jump threw the ball onto her teammate. And she scored.
France beat Russia at the 2021 World Cup in one-leg handball. Is this a trick?
But the Norwegians quickly adapted to this game of our girls. Well, then the Norwegians even slowed down, and ours – those who are bolder – tried to solve everything by individual actions.
On the defensive in the first half, only a couple of active actions can be noted, after which the Norwegians lost the ball.
One was quickly taken by Yulia Managarova, and the second one could not be realized by Polina Gorshkova. 15:19 after the first half – it was still normal.
Eight minutes of hope
The best segment of the match is the Russian national team of the second half. A very tough and active defensive play allowed the Russian handball players to play effectively in attack as well. The gap in the score was reduced to two goals, and the playing advantage passed to our team. When our girls began to play harder and much more active, the Norwegians “swam” a little.
But their experienced mentor Torir Hergeirsson cooled the Russian women’s impulse in time with a time-out. After which there was simply a beating of the Russian national team. And Lyudmila Bodnieva was clearly late with her time-out.
Played out without intrigue
Seven minutes of the Norwegian national team was enough to finally remove all questions about the winner, by the middle to the middle of the second half, everything had already become clear.
The Norwegians played exclusively for their own pleasure, and ours – exclusively as the opponent allowed. If the French women strangled the Russians for the whole match, did not allow them to play, then the Norwegians at the entered moment suggested – let’s run, we will arrange a firefight.
But when the Russian national team, taking advantage of such an offer and the temporary relaxation of the rivals, lagged behind from seven goals to four, the Norwegian national team again clearly controlled everything.
The rivals simply trampled the Russian team. We ran across. “Shoot.” Outplayed. And their leader, Nora Mork, played fantastic. There was no such handball player in the Russian national team.
“Come on, girls! They won’t give up. ” Russia’s delightful match at the World Cup
By and large, there was a repetition of the 2017 World Cup, when, after a fantastic victory at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, our team, led by Evgeny Trefilov, lost to the Norwegians at the same stage 17:34. Then, after all, the roster was also greatly updated, and the maximalist Trefilov shouted at the players: “Who wants to go out and just fight?”
It cannot be said that our girls stopped playing – defended themselves, ran and threw until the last seconds. But two matches with the top team showed that the current Russian team still has a lot to learn. So far – only eighth place.