A thriller in Norway ended with a deserved result: In their last international match of the season, Elverum Handball took their first draw in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2022/23 and ended the hopes of THW Kiel to finish third in group B.
If Kiel had won, they would have passed HBC Nantes, but now the German side finish in fourth position and will face either GOG or Dinamo Bucuresti in the play-offs. With now three points in their account, Elverum were eliminated three weeks ago.
GROUP B
Elverum Handball (NOR) vs THW Kiel (GER) 26:26 (11:12)
- after the score of 4:3, Elverum were not ahead again before the break, but Kiel could not cast off the hosts. The German side were in front by more than two goals only once, at 9:6
- the second half was fully equal, with Elverum in the lead constantly from the 16:15. Kiel had the upper hand once, right in the final minute, when Hendrik Pekeler netted for 26:25
- finally, Tobias Grøndahl secured Elverum’s third and last group phase point with the equaliser in the last minute, before Kiel’s Norwegian star Sander Sagosen missed the last chance for the visitors
- THW coach Filip Jicha gave playing time to many young players and rotated a lot from the beginning
- in what was their last international match of the season, Elverum scored from almost all positions. In the end, 11 players were on the score board, led by six goals from Grøndahl
Brilliant goalkeeper performance on both sides
The fact that the first half at Elverum was a low-scorer, with only 23 goals, was caused by two outstanding goalkeepers: Emil Kheri Imsgard (Elverum) and Tomas Mrkva (Kiel) were like walls, with both always close to the 50 per cent mark of saved shots.
In this statistic, there was a ‘draw’ after the first 30 minutes, as both had saved 10 shots each. Following the break, their rates decreased as the defence for both sides offered less support, but in the end Imsgard recorded 14 saves and Mrkva 12.
This has been my only club so far in my career, and playing here has been a dream of mine since I was a kid. Everything I’ve learned on the handball court, I’ve learned here, so it is really important for me to be able to give something back. It’s really good that we show that we can deliver on the biggest stage.
