The Dutch handball fairytale at the World Cup is over. The Dutch handball players found their Waterloo on Tuesday evening against reigning world champion Norway with a 23-30 defeat.
It will not be a second world title for the Netherlands after 2019 in Japan. As a result, Norway was too high an obstacle at home. The victory of the strong, crafty and experienced Norwegian handball players was undeniable. The team once again showed its class with its last goal in the quarter-finals with a nice ‘flyer’ by Henny Reistad.
It was not that the Norwegians played equally brilliantly throughout the match, but the Dutch handball players of national coach Per Johansson were unable to take advantage of this sufficiently. The Dutch team had difficulty finding offensive holes in the tight and effective coverage of the Norwegians. And if they did succeed, the outstanding goalkeeper Silje Solbreg would be a major obstacle. Her colleague Katrine Lunde, colleague of Lois Abbingh from Groningen at the Norwegian top club Vipers, did just as well as a substitute in the second half.
The Dutch coverage is doing less well
The Dutch cover did less well and was fortunate that Yara ten Holt also made a number of nice saves in the Dutch goal. But they often had no chance when the Netherlands made offensive mistakes, allowing the Norwegians to counter very quickly. The fast-breaks, a Norwegian specialty, also had Ten Holte’s success.
Before halftime, the Netherlands remained on its feet in the hall, populated by 9,000 mainly Norwegian supporters – including Crown Prince Haakon. The Dutch team almost made up for a 7-12 deficit, partly thanks to a large number of Norwegian time penalties. At halftime, the Dutch handball players were only one goal behind and anything was still possible.
Seizing opportunities is difficult for the Dutch team
But the problem of taking advantage of opportunities continued to plague the Netherlands in the second half, while the Norwegians managed to find the gaps in the Dutch team thanks to top players Nora Mork, Stine Oftedal and Stine Skogrand. Norway started to lag behind and the Netherlands could do little about it. Of course, the Netherlands also scored goals, such as with some cannon shots from Abbingh. But the Norwegians were much deadlier in their finishing. The semi-final was getting closer for them.
Norway came three or four goals ahead and had the match under control. Whatever the Netherlands tried – such as playing without a goalkeeper and with seven field players – they could no longer prevent the impending defeat. That came after 20-24 and 22-27 with an eventual score of 23-30. On the loss against the Dutch anxiousgegner There was nothing to be said about Norway.
The Netherlands met their strongest opponent at the World Cup so far with experienced Norway. This also happened in Trondheim, where the home team were loudly cheered on by their thousands of supporters in the quarter-final. It was the first real test for the girls of national coach Per Johansson, who had come through the tournament with easy, big victories until then.
The Netherlands often had a lot of difficulty with Norway
Norway did not fare much worse than the Netherlands at the World Cup until the quarter-finals. The Norwegian women suffered their only defeat in the last match of the main round 24-23 against France. But then the penny could just as easily have fallen the other way in the final round.
In the past, the Dutch team usually had some difficulty with the Scandinavian handball superpower. For example, Norway defeated the Dutch team in the finals of the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 European Championship. The Dutch also held back a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. At the 2019 World Cup, where the Netherlands won historic gold, the Dutch team recorded a rare victory in the group stage over Norway, which has a total of four world titles to its name.
The Netherlands previously won six times at the World Cup, which is played in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, with convincing numbers. After three victories in the group stage over Argentina (41-26), Congo (40-20) and the Czech Republic (33-20), three victories followed in the main round over Brazil (35-27), Ukraine (40-21) and Spain (29-21). At no time were the Dutch handball players really tested. By reaching the quarter-finals, the Dutch team has already qualified for the Olympic qualifying tournament in April 2024.