The passionate Faroese, driven by the amazing support in the stands, gave the Norwegians a headache with the brave seven-on-six approach instructed by their coach, Peter Bredsdorff-Larsen, from the whistle.
The Norwegian squad looked completely fazed by the atmosphere and never got the confidence to completely establish control on the match. In the final three minutes, Norway held a three-goal lead, but the Faroe Islands displayed extremely strong determination, mounted a comeback and fought until the very end when Elias Ellefsen á Skipagøtu stole the ball and earned a penalty in the dying minutes, which he converted a few seconds later to write his name with golden letters in Faroese history.
Slovenia are through to the main round with four points, with the second place to be decided.
GROUP D
Faroe Islands vs Norway 26:26 (12:13)
- Nicholas Satchwell was one of the Faroe Islands' best players as the goalkeeper made seven saves and recorded 33 per cent save efficiency
- Óli Mittún took over a bit from Elias Ellefsen á Skipagøtu's scoring burden as the former scored three goals and played an important role
- the Faroese caught the Norwegians by surprise by playing untypically strong and physical defence, leaving the 2020 bronze medallists with minimum solutions in finding the way to the net
- Alexandre Blonz was the match's top scorer as the left wing scored eight goals for Norway
- the creative and lighting centre back, Elias Ellefsen á Skipagøtu, scored five goals, including the last crucial penalty, and he was chosen as the Player of the Match, sponsored by Grundfos, by the fans
I feel amazing, it's a dream come true to win - I mean not to win, but this is a win for us to get a point against Norway, so it's an amazing day for the Faroe Islands and our handball.
The two last minutes were quite dramatic. Everybody expected us to win by five goals or more. The closer we got to the end of the game the more the pressure on the players got up. The penalty in the end for Faroe Islands was correct, I think.
