Norway win decides two EHF EURO 2024 tickets

GROUP 2
Slovakia vs Norway 23:33 (12:17)

After a one-goal loss to Serbia in round 3, which meant they lost the chance to clinch their qualify for the final tournament in the earlier rounds, Norway became one of the teams to book their place at the final tournament in Germany with their victory over Slovakia. The win took Norway up to eight points on the group 2 table, and also meant second-ranked Serbia are assured of a place at the EHF EURO 2024.

There was never much danger of Norway failing with their qualification task in Hlohovec. The visitors scored the opening goal of the match and after the score of 2:2 six minutes in, were always in charge on the score board. By half-time, they had stretched that distance to a comfortable five goals. Seven minutes into the second half, powered by an improved performance in goal — 42 per cent save rate in the second period versus 20 per cent in the first — Norway hit a 10-goal advantage and it was clear the two points were decided.

Norway’s leading star Sander Sagosen was in great form, delivering nine assists along with his five goals, while Slovakia’s Tomas Urban recorded seven goals and six assists.

GROUP 8
Latvia vs France 19:38 (9:20)

France pushed their decisive goal difference earned during their unblemished qualifiers campaign even higher with a second clear victory against Latvia. Following the 35:18 result in round 1, France earned a second win with the score line in the ‘teens’, which represented their fifth victory out of five games in the qualifiers. Overall, it was France’s third win against their hosts for Wednesday’s clash.

France had scored the second highest number of goals in the qualifiers ahead of round 5, and added to that tally with their big attacking game in Valmiera. With comfortable control of the match, France coach Guillaume Gille was able to rotate through his bench considerably, with the result that almost every field player contributed to the goal count. However, it was not a perfect game for the current Olympic champions and semi-finalists at the EHF EURO 2022 — they did record an uncharacteristic number of errors and the defensive performance was not as strong as usual, with low save rates from the goalkeepers.

Nevertheless, it was clear the two points were set to leave Latvia early on. France scored three unanswered goals to start the game and reached a 10-goal lead before half-time, at which point there was no coming back for Latvia. The home side remained on zero points with their fifth straight defeat.

Photos © Slovak Handball Federation, AHP