Dec 12, 2023 at 6:40 AM Update: 38 minutes ago
After six clear victories, the Dutch handball players will start the all-or-nothing phase of the World Cup on Tuesday. In the quarter-finals, a cracker awaits in and against Norway, the country that has so often troubled the Netherlands in recent years.
It is now a familiar sight at this World Cup. The Dutch handball players win (with resounding numbers) and then dance with the accompanying Orange crowd to the well-known party song of the Snollebollekes from left to right.
In Frederikshavn, Denmark, the Snollebollekes were a custom after every match, but it remains to be seen whether the tradition will continue in Trondheim, Norway. The Netherlands will play the quarter-finals there on Tuesday against the home country and the four-time world champion.
Norway is considered a real fear monger for the Netherlands. For example, Dutch captain Lois Abbingh thought for years that the Norwegian team could not be beaten, until the 2019 World Cup won by the Netherlands. Then the handball superpower was beaten for the first time this century.
The 31-year-old Abbingh especially remembers the calm of the group match against the Norwegians four years ago. “We were behind again halfway through (14-18, ed.), but we looked at each other and the belief was there. We had never had that before against Norway until that moment.”
Lois Abbingh is one of the Oranje’s veterans. Photo: ANP
‘The handball players are really idols here’
Of the 66 mutual matches played between the Netherlands and Norway since 1962, Norway won no fewer than 50. The Scandinavian superpower has hurt the Dutch in recent years in the World Cup final of 2015 and the European Championship final a year later.
Abbingh thinks he knows why the Norwegian game is often so bad for the Netherlands. “It’s actually because they play the same game as us,” she says. “They are also very quick in transition. This means we cannot hurt them that way, while we could do that with Spain and Brazil in the group stage.”
Abbingh, who has been playing for the Norwegian Vipers Kristiansand since the beginning of this year, also sees a cultural difference. “The handball players are really idols here. You see them in huge pictures in the supermarket. Unfortunately, that is not the case with us.”
Abbingh predicts that the almost nine thousand Norwegian fans will create a special atmosphere. The stands will be less orange due to the impractical location. “So the question remains who will join us when we go from left to right,” she concludes with a laugh.
Quarter-final starts at 8:30 PM
The quarter-final between the Netherlands and Norway starts at 8:30 PM. The squatter can be followed in a live blog on NU.nl.
2023-12-12 05:40:59
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