Stine Bredal Oftedal had to make the finish. But missed. Norway lost the quarter-final place when Sweden equalized three seconds before the end and thus it becomes an incredible drama about the way forward.
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Norway led by two goals a minute and a half before the end, but lost the victory. Thorir Hergeirsson did not put the time out card on the table in the last attack. There, Sweden scored with three seconds left of the match, and Nora Mørk took the blame for that after the match.
– It’s me who’s Judas at the end and shit me out. It stings, says Mørk to VG.
– Why do you think you are Judas?
– I’m losing my head a little. I thought it was a shorter time again. I’m not going to move forward, it’s not my player and that gives them the opportunity. It was completely on the nose, simply, says Mørk.
Watch the interview here:
Olivia Mellegård became the great Swedish hero, after lobbing in the last goal of the match.
Thus, there will be real excitement in the final round. Norway and the Netherlands, who meet in the last match, both have seven points at the top of the pool. Sweden is one point behind and will play against Romania. The Netherlands has a far better goal difference than Norway, and should Sweden win their match against Romania by two goals or more, Norway must win against the Netherlands to advance to a quarter-final.
– There’s a bit of chaos out there. It will be a bit of a stressful situation. They play well and get a good chance at the end. It was a bit like the match was, with a lot of back and forth. It was sad not to get two points here, says Camilla Herrem to VG.
– We will only win against the Netherlands. There is nothing else to say about it. Then we must be on, says Herrem.
National team coach Thorir Hergeirsson had to breathe a sigh of relief when he was asked about the final minutes.
– I can not. There is too much going on for me to be able to think clearly about everything that happened in the end. We release them in 7 against 6, and we are inaccurate and imprecise in some attacks. We might have taken a timeout at the end, but we saw that there was a good game agreement underway, says Hergeirsson, and adds that in the final decision in hand probably should have taken a timeout.
– They perform the 7 on 6 game very well. It is not surprising, but I am a little surprised that we can not stop it more often, says the national team coach.
–String player Kari Brattset Dale answers the following questions about a timeout at the end.
– It is up to the coaches when they will time out, but I think it would have been wise, she says to VG.
– It is easy to be wise afterwards, but it is also a learning we get to take with us, says Henny Reistad to VG.
National team captain Stine Bredal Oftedal thinks a timeout could be a good opportunity.
– I guess Thorir will look at it very much himself. It might have been a good opportunity, she says to VG.
– Why?
– To get some peace and a little concrete, simply.
See photos from the match in the photo gallery:
1 of 7Photo: Bjorn Steinar Delebekk / VG
The Viaplay commentators were very impressed with the Swedish national team coach.
– We meet a smarting. The best man award should go to him, says Viaplay’s expert commentator Gunnar Pettersen and refers to Sweden’s national team manager Tomas Axnér.
The handball girls had the initiative throughout the second half. Reistad scored the first goal after the break. But Sweden hung on and took back the lead after 13 minutes of the second half.
But when good Jamina Roberts was expelled, Norway took back the initiative.
Norway led 28-30 one and a half minutes before the end and approached the knockout matches in Granollers. But everything smoked when Olivia Mellegård scored in the closing seconds.
The VG exchange
Silje Solberg 4
7 saves / 28 shots
Katrine Lunde 4
3 saves / 11 shots
Henny Reistad 6
4 goals / 6 shots – 1 error
Emilie Hegh Arntzen 5
1 goal / 3 shots
Veronica Kristiansen 7
6 goals / 9 shots – 1 error
Nora Mørk 6
4 goals / 5 shots – 3 errors
Stine Bredal Oftedal 6
2 goals / 4 shots – 1 error
Malin Aune –
0 shots
Marit Røsberg Jacobsen 6
3 goals / 4 shots
Camilla Herrem 6
3 goals / 3 shots
Sanna Solberg-Isaksen 4
1 goal / 3 shots
Maren Aardahl 5
0 shots
Thorir Hergeirsson (coach) 4
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