Hungary – Norway: 33-25, we lost quite a bit, we will play for seventh place in the handball tournament
After suffering a heavy defeat in the quarter-finals against two-time defending champion Denmark, the Hungarian men’s handball team is playing against the last Scandinavian team that has not played in the World Championship so far.
We beat Iceland with the best game of the tournament from our side, which earned us an Olympic qualifier. Sweden and Denmark didn’t even give us a chance. (The Finns are finicky, they’re better at hockey and cross-country skiing.) What are we going to do against the Norwegians, who lost to the Spanish in the tightest quarter, even though they had the ball with five seconds left?
Our coverage:
It’s over. 33-25. We were very close for a long time, then the lack of hope and the too high tempo of the game wore down the team for the last quarter of an hour. We will play for seventh place against Egypt on Sunday.
57th minute: Three minutes before the end, our manager Hanusz Egon scored the first goal. This could only be a serious defeat. 24-30.
55th minute: We want to pass without missing a man, but the Norwegians immediately pull him in and turn. 22-30. The match was decided towards a simple defeat.
46th minute: first the difference is five goals. 19-24. Commentator Ákos Varga’s vision was the deciding factor in the match. The Norwegians have committed fewer technical errors (bad pass, dropped ball) in their games so far, even at a higher pace of play, than we have at a slower pace. Today we play with each other, necessarily faster than usual, they slower. Our mistakes are increasing, theirs are decreasing, and that’s what counts. We have roughly the same number of goals as we have given them more free balls.
35th minute: Possession of the ball, Bóka steps away, we also have a quick goal! 17-18.
Half time. In the end, the difference stood at three goals, 13-16. We suffer goals for almost everything, even if we shoot beautiful ones or just big bombs. They often find it easy to rush. The size of the Hungarian wingers corresponds to the Norwegian crossers. It seems like a different sport and theirs works better. But the three goals are not insurmountable, and the game looks much better than the Danes or the Swedes did.
25th minute: Patrik Ligetvári three goals out of three, we’re back to one: 11-12. Right after that, however, he wants to play an offensive foul, and is suspended for two minutes for acting.
23rd minute: The match oscillates between a simple defeat and a one-and-one match, its fate has not yet been decided, our deficit of two or three goals is stable. 10-12.
19th minute: They walk away with three, Rőd shoots a bomb as big as Bodó just now. 7-10.
14th minute: We could have equalized at seven, but Bánhidi steps on the line before his goal from the substitute. 6-8.
12 minutes: We equalize! Stab-bomb to the cross! 6-6.
9th minute: In handball, which Hungarian children grow up playing, we are no worse. Against an established defense, at the end of a patiently constructed move from wing to wing, Pedro can jump in from the baseline: 3-5.
5 minutes: Mikler saves one with a brace, Hanusz runs along the court with the rebound, but he cannot score against the defense that is almost up. On the other hand, from the rebound, they cross the entire court with a pass, not with their feet, so they can throw a jumper. 2-4.
4th minute: Lékai already scores our second goal, but that’s all 2-3we conclude with .
1 minute: Not bad for a first attack: Hanusz Egon sneaks in and is knocked down. Seven and two minutes of man advantage. However, we immediately lose Rosta, who gets the ball a little stuck in his hand at number seven, shoots the goalkeeper in the head, so the goal is invalid, and it is also exhibited.
Opening image: Richard Bodó is preparing. Photo: Tamás Kovács / MTI