Not everything was easy for Sander Sagosen and his teammates, though, as Czechia gave them a good run for their money in the first half. Immune to the sound of 8,000 fans cheering, the Czechs led for most of the first 30 minutes, helped by Tomáš Mrkva’s saves.
It was not until the last 10 minutes that Norway took the momentum. A couple of saves from Torbjørn Bergerud and a stress-free August Pedersen were enough to take the team to victory — but a win much tighter than they would have liked.
GROUP C
H2H: 1-1-3
Top scorers: Jonáš Josef 7/13 (Czechia), August Pedersen 9/10 (Norway)
Goalkeeper saves: Tomáš Mrkva 17/45, Jan Hrdlička 0/1 (both Czechia), Torbjørn Bergerud 14/34, Robin Haug 1/6 (both Norway)
POTM presented by Grundfos: Tomáš Mrkva (Czechia)
- Czechia did more than just resist in the first 15 minutes, as thanks to two seven-metre saves by Tomáš Mrkva, they took a two-goal advantage
- it was not until the 29th minute that Norway took the lead again, thanks to a fast-break goal by August Pedersen
- both teams remained neck-and-neck for most of the second half, as Jonáš Josef and August Pedersen traded goals without being able to put their teams clearly ahead
- Norway stole the momentum in the last quarter of the game, despite Mrkva’s 17 saves, which gave him the Player of the Match award
- August Pedersen remained cold-blooded, scoring four seven-metre shots — and nine goals overall — to lead his team to victory
- Norway are now qualified for the main round, along with France, while Czechia and Ukraine are eliminated
The past and the future of Norway
The Norwegian Handball Federation had a nice present for the spectators of the Unity Arena on Saturday night. Not only did the fans witness a victory from Norway against Czechia, in a game that helped them make it through the main round, but they also saw three legends of handball being awarded.
Former line player Bjarte Myrhol, left wing Magnus Jøndal and left back Espen Lie Hansen were all presented with a small statuette as an award for their contribution. All three played the final of the 2017 IHF World Championship, where Norway won silver.
While the 2026 version of team Norway is not there yet at the EHF EURO, one thing remains clear — there is definitely a link between the past and the future in Norway.
It’s bittersweet. I am really proud of the team, of the fight we gave. Maybe the game was just a little bit too long, Norway have got so many possibilities and we did not have much time to change. We lost by four goals while we were ahead in the first half and were still in the game for a long time in the second half. That hurts, but we have to quickly bounce back, as the game against Ukraine will be very important for the next World Championship qualifiers.
Of course, we are really happy because we won, but also because we qualified for the main round. It was a tough battle, Czechia played much better than they did against France. In the first game, we had the opportunity to score some easy goals thanks to our defence, but this time, we were not as effective in that area of the game.
