Finale!

Final!

What a game!
We started off Friday with a stroll around the streets of Paris with my visiting friends Mia, Magnus and Jonas. But we couldn’t really appreciate the things we were looking at, as we were all thinking about what was about to happen at 20.45. Norway’s handball men were going to play in their first ever world cup semi-finals, and we were going to be there!

And what a game it was!
When Croatia got a penalty with 1 second remaining, with the score level at 22-22, we said to each other: "well, that’s typical. Getting so close, but still not going all the way."
The men’s national team have been known in Norway as the “almost-team”, as they have almost been able to win the big games, but losing in the last seconds.

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But after last year’s semi-final appearance in the European championship, which was at the time the best they had ever done, they were now considered as one of the best teams in the World. So when Torbjørn Bergerud saved the penalty as time expired, it was like a volcano of emotions finally erupted after having been held down for many years. I have to admit, there are some parts of those minutes between the save and the start of the extra time that I don’t remember. 

After a bad start to the extra time Norway eventually caught up with the Croatians, and ran straight by them. With Bjarte Myrhol's goal that put Norway up by three, with 25 seconds left of the game, the arena went crazy. At least our little Norwegian group up by the rafters, but also all the French people in attendance.
After the game we walked down to the court, and we could see grown men and women with tears in their eyes. None of us could really believe what we had witnessed.
This is THE biggest moment I have ever witnessed when it comes to handball. One would think that I would appreciate those times when I was playing myself more, but watching these guys play, and achieve what they have been able to achieve is the best! The way they did it is simply like a fairytale. No Hollywood movie could ever have had a better script. No one would have believed it. It was simply too good to be true. But it happened. This is truly amazing!
Congrats guys, now let’s beat France in their own backyard tomorrow!