06.11.2011, 08:21
Norway win Bring Cup tournament

With three victories, Norway commenced a good EHF EURO preparation, whilst for FYR Macedonia, it was two victories and a loss.

Norway win Bring Cup tournament

Two EHF EURO participants, Norway and FYR Macedonia, faced the national teams of Portugal and Lithuania in three different Norwegian cities in preparation for the January 2012 continental event in Serbia.

Norway and FYR Macedonia met on day one of the tournament, and the Scandinavians had no problems in defeating coach Zvonko Shundovski´s team.

Although a good start was made by Kiril Lazarov and his colleagues (3:0), the hosts quickly leveled the match. The teams remained on eye level until 10:10, after which the Norwegians showed their strength by going ahead by four goals at half-time.

In the second half, FYR Macedonia looked to improve their attacking game, but it was Norway who were more convincing, and coach Robert Hedin’s team soon extended their lead to 9 goals.

However, with goals by captain Kiril Lazarov, Petre Angelov and Velko Markoski, FYR Macedonia managed to mitigate the deficit. Top scorer was Norway´s Christopher Rambo with 10 goals, whilst for the east-europeans, Kiril Lazarov scored the most, with 8.

Kiril Lazarov´s brother, Filip, summed-up his side´s performance: "The result against the Norwegians was not that important. We wanted to test more new variations in both attack and defence, and all of our players were able to enter the court."

For FYR Macedonia, the Bring Cup tournament was the beginning of their preparations for the European Championships in January 2012. The squad that coach Zvonko Shundovski took with him to Norway, without the absent Filip Mirkulovski, is more than likely the same list of players that will travel to the city of Niš to play against Czech Republic, Germany, and Sweden.

Having beaten FYR Macedonia in the opener, the last match against Portugal was quite a struggle for Norway. The Scandinavians had a troublesome first half where they were down by two goals, but then, with a strong second-half performance, they finally won 34:27 and with this win, they celebrated first place in the tournament.

"We must take our chances in attack and close the defence much stronger," said Robert Hedin after the game.

Kenneth Ryvoll Klev showed strength throughout the tournament, and finished as the top scorer in the match against Portugal with a total of 7 goals - the same number as Espen Lie Hansen.

"It was our best game in the Bring Cup. We have seen that the mixture of experienced and young players gave a good balance. Our offensive game worked well and Norway, without Steinar Ege and Ole Erevik, have goalies who can perform well," added Robert Hedin.

Bring Cup results:

3 November, Langhus

Norway-FYR Macedonia 33:26 (16:11)
Portugal-Lithuania 31:26 (19:9)

4 November, Oslo

Norway-Lithuania 28:24 (14:12)
Portugal-FYR Macedonia 25:29 (12:13)

5 November, Lillestrøm

FYR Macedonia-Lithuania 31:30 (19:11)
Norway-Portugal 34:27 (15:17)

Further information

Download the Official EHF EURO 2012 Playing Schedule (pdf)

Buy your EHF EURO 2012 tickets HERE.

Ticketing is managed by the Serbian Organising Committees. Should you need further assistance for buying your tickets, please contact via email: tickets@rss.org.rs

Find more information on the tournament on the official website www.ehf-euro.com/SRB2012/

Join the growing community of fans of the event on Facebook www.facebook.com/SRB2012

TEXT: Márk Hegedüs