The 151st and final match of Christian Berge reign as Norwegian national team coach ended in a draw.
On Sunday, Norway tied 26:26 with Spain on the final day of the Golden League tournament in Denmark, having led 23:18. Previously, Norway were defeated twice against hosts Denmark (37:21) and France (37:29).
Berge has already started his new job at Kolstad in Trondheim and as the Norwegian Federation did not agree to him holding a dual function, his mission officially ends in April and the search for his successor continues.
The only unbeaten team at the Golden League was France - after beating Norway, they took revenge against hosts Denmark in the repeat of the EHF EURO 2022 bronze medal match and won 28:26.
Barça line player Ludovic Fabregas scored the winning strike with the final buzzer, his club teammate Dika Mem was France’s top scorer by six goals, while Denmark’s left back Michael Damgaard netted seven times.
“We are back on track in terms of our defence,” said France coach Guillaume Gille, whose team had been ahead 26:22, before Denmark started their comeback.
“In general, I am satisfied with the way we played at the Golden League,” said Denmark coach Nikolaj Jacobsen. After beating Norway clearly on the opening day of the event in Aalborg, his side had a tougher nut to crack against Spain, but finally beat the EHF EURO 2022 silver medallists 28:25.
Golden Swedes down Poland
Besides the traditional Golden League tournament, several more test matches all over Europe were carried out parallel to the first round of the 2023 World Championship play-offs.
EHF EURO champions Sweden were victorious twice in the test of the 2023 World Championship hosts in Poland. Their EHF EURO heroes Hampus Wanne (nine), Niclas Ekberg (six) and MVP Jim Gottfridsson (three) combined for 18 of their 27 goals in the first duel at Plock, won 27:24, while the top Polish scorer was wing Arkadiusz Moryto on eight goals.
Poland led for most of the match until the scores were level at 21:21 six minutes before the end, before Sweden decisively pulled ahead to 27:23.
In the second encounter, Sweden took control late in the first half and finally took a deserved 28:24 win, in which Lucas Pellas was the top scorer on six goals.
New men at the helm
New Czech Republic coach, Xavi Sabate, started his mission with a 24:23 defeat and a 30:26 victory against Serbia in two test matches in Zubrija.
Both matches remained evenly fought throughout. The Czechs pulled ahead from 21:21 to 30:26 in the second duel, but in the first game, Serbia had the better end thanks to their team performance as 11 players shared the 24 goals among them.
Another Spaniard is now officially Hungarian coach: Chema Rodriguez, who was promoted from Istvan Gulyas' assistant to become the new head coach.
Though stars such as Bence Banhidi and Mate Lekai were late withdrawals from the test matches in Germany, Rodriguez steered his side to a 31:31 draw in the first duel. A buzzer-beater from German team captain and EHF EURO 2022 All-star Johannes Golla provided Germany with a fortunate 30:29 victory in the second test match.
Serbia (against Slovenia), Czech Republic (against North Macedonia), Germany (against Faroe Islands) and Hungary (against Israel) will be part of the crucial phase 2 part 2 qualifiers for the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship in the next national team week in mid-April.
After phase 2 part 1 was completed last week, the remaining duels are Finland vs Croatia, Portugal vs Netherlands and Austria vs Iceland. The aggregate winners will book their tickets for the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship in Sweden and Poland.
