In the first half, little happened to the Norwegian players. The Dutch attacking players danced past the Norwegian defenders and scored a total of 17 goals.

– We sometimes get played backwards. They played with us, said NRK handball expert Håvard Tvedten on NRK radio broadcast of the match.

Norway eventually won 27-26 after they managed to stop the Dutch attacking play in the second half, while the extent of the Norwegian team was also revealed in the latter part of the game.

A win and a full pot into the main draw though – Håvard Tvedten was almost convinced by what he saw.

– You get a little bit more unsure about where they stand, when you see that they have big problems in the first half. For a Norwegian defender, you meet a very unorthodox team with unorthodox players, which is very good. He basically did what he wanted from the start. But we tried five times three before we managed to stabilize it a bit in the first half, he said, and continued:

– It gives me some worries about how good we really are and especially how good we are at the back, he said.

– Do you think it’s something that other teams have looked at and cared about?

– Yes, that’s for sure. We have some challenges in the middle. I think we also saw a trend in that direction at the Gjensidige Cup, also against quite a bad opponent, he said.

– Must be screwed back

In the main round, Norway (four points), Netherlands (two points) and Argentina (zero points) qualify from Group F. There they meet Germany (four points), Serbia (two points) and Qatar (zero points).

The top two advance to the quarter-finals. With that as a starting point, Tvedten believes Norway’s chances are significant, but:

– They have to keep building on what’s good and then they have to turn something around. First half tension – 17 goals down against the Netherlands. “That’s not going to work, at least when we reach the quarter-finals,” he said, at the same time praising Norway’s mental strength in Tuesday’s turnaround.

Defensive measures are key

The reigning Norwegian champions Magnus Gullerud and Petter Øverby are to big to contain the Dutch attack from the start of Tuesday’s match, led by 172cm Luc Steins.

With a low center of gravity and quick feet, he wreaked havoc with the Norwegian defense in the first quarter and after national team coach Jonas Wille tried one player after another in central defence, Gøran Johannessen came on for the fifth attempt to stop the Netherlands. .

And with luck.

– I feel the key for us to turn things around is Gøran’s performance. He’s the one who made us change the game offensively and defensively, Wille told NRK.

– Gøran, (Vetle Eck) Aga and (Christian) O’Sullivan have a physique that suits them better. It’s a better match. There was a big “mismatch” between little paw (Steins) and Petter Øverby. Then walking too fast for Petter, Wille said.

Johannessen himself said that the message came when the Netherlands was at its worst.

– It was not specially planned that I should stand in the middle. I got a message from Jonas after 10-12 minutes that there might be a need for that, because Holland runs a lot and we want to have some fast players who are also in central defence. I think it’s going well. And we won, so that’s good, he said.

– This requires more energy and especially when you have players like Luc Steins duel for 60 minutes. They counter-attacked a lot and we want to counter-attack a lot. It’s going to be a beep test out there, but as long as we win in the end, it’s all the same, said Johannessen.

Sander Sagosen also pointed to Johannessen as the key to victory.

– Gøran enters as the leader today. We struggled for the first 10-12 minutes. Then Gøran came in and really had some speed in his feet. From now on, he scores easy goals for us and shows the x factor. We are very happy to have Gøran today, said Sagosen.

– We got rid of the horror

The Netherlands led at most 14-8 and 15-9, but they fell short. Scary, says Tvedten.

– We’re avoiding horror here. This is far below the level we should reach if we are to wage war with good nations. “It was a first half where we played games sometimes,” said Tvedten.

– Horror and horror. Holland is a good team. We didn’t quite get out of the starting blocks as we would have liked but we fought and fought and it paid off in the second half when they tired, Sagosen answered a question about Tvedten’s comments.

Goalkeeper Kristian Sæverås was central to Norway’s victory, with a number of important saves in the second half.

– It’s great that we managed to turn things around in the second half. It shows morale and a real will to win. We were very behind in the second half. We can run a bit more and get more rhythm into our game. Delicious, he told NRK.

– They are a world-class team, so it’s hard to win games like this. Maybe they have a little more experience playing games like that and that might be the decider today, Dutch star Luc Steins told NRK.

The Netherlands started brilliantly

Ahead of the match, Luc Steins became a hot topic of conversation. The lightning-quick centre-back showed why early on and was last or second-last in possession in 12 of the Netherlands’ first 15 scores.

At most, the Netherlands led by six goals, the last when the aforementioned Steins slipped into the lineup and scored 15–9.

– It’s Christmas Eve for the men over there. Now there’s almost a limit to what can be done, says expert Viaplay commentator Kristian Kjelling.

Norway finished the half better, but the Netherlands took a four-goal lead at the break, at 17-13.

Turned the game around in the second half

Norway then tried almost every defensive option to block the Dutch full-back. It was without any significant success.

– They looked terrified every time he came on with the ball, Rowlands said of Norway’s defense against Steins.

But the second half became a stark contrast to the first half. Where Norway struggled with a series of shots, technical errors and sloppy defensive play in the first half, it was the Norwegians who managed to save the keeper in the second – at the same time the Netherlands also confounded them in their own attacking game. time.

In the end, it ended in a one-goal win for Norway, 27-26.