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January 24, 2025It was too little too late for Norway as they clinched their second third win at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship against Chile, 39:22, with the Scandinavian side already out of contention for a quarter-finals spot.
MAIN ROUND, GROUP III
Chile vs Norway 22:39 (11:17)
The second day of the main round in the Unity Arena in Baerum produced some of the biggest bombshells the IHF Men’s World Championship had to offer in the last few editions, as Portugal and Brazil downed Spain and Sweden respectively, to secure their maiden main round berths in the history of the competition.
As the domino effect went down, Norway also found themselves out of contention, but it was just a question of when, rather than if, as starting the second phase of the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship with zero points was always going to be the end of the Scandinavian side.
Still, Jonas Wille’s side still had two matches to play and were aiming to try to finish at least in the top-10, but for that, they needed wins against Chile and Sweden, avoiding a bottom-half ending in a competition where they started aiming for a medal.
But as bad news don’t come alone, Norway also had to do without Sander Sagosen, their star, who got injured in the final minutes of the previous match against Spain, seeing his quest for his 200th goal at the IHF Men’s World Championship stopped.
Sagosen was already replaced and will not feature in the Unity Arena, but Norway displayed probably their best overall performance in the competition so far, totally outplaying Chile, in spite of a spirited start from the South American team, in their maiden main round appearance.
Chile did lead in the first minutes, 5:4, but a 3:0 run for Norway, followed by another 5:0 one early in the first half basically decided the match. Three of those eight goals were scored by Kasper Thorsen Lien, the right wing who was the best scorer of Norway’s win, finishing with 10 goals., the last one coming from an in-flight in the last minute.
Chile were down only six goals at the end of the first half, but the second one proved to be a true goalfest for Norway, which exceeded 20 goals, constantly pummelling Chile on feisty fast breaks, as well as with excellent breakthroughs.
Left back William Otto Aar, deputising in Sagosen’s place, also added seven goals, as Norway constantly put pressure against Chile, rekindling their passion for the match, which was nowhere to be found in the previous matches.
Eventually, Norway secured their largest win in the competition, and will face Sweden in a battle for the third place in the group, which might be enough for a top-10 finish. Nevertheless, it is a bittersweet win for the Scandinavian side, which saw their chances of progression vanish.
Chile are sure to finish last in the group and will land somewhere around between the 21st and 24th places, but are surely enjoying featuring against the top teams in the world in this main round.
hummel Player of the Match: Kasper Thorsen Lien (Norway)