“We used our quota of mistakes for this competition,” said Sander Sagosen earlier in the tournament after Norway conceded a 26-29 loss in their opener against Brazil at the World Cup. But things got worse for the Norwegians on Sunday night.
The Scandinavian entered the competition with enormous ambitions but after losing to Brazil and now also coming up short against Portugal, they will enter the main round with zero points which means that Norway will have their backs to the wall in trying to secure a ticket to the semifinals.
The Royal Family, led by the H.R.H. The Crown Prince Haakon and The Crown Princess Mette-Marit attended the match and they witnessed a shaky start from the home side who struggled to play from behind with big star Sander Sagosen far from his best and Portugal led 14-13 at the interval.
Norway came out from the break more determined, more clear-cut and much more focused, as Sagosen started to get into his groove and the home side established a 19-16 lead.
However, Portugal came storming back in to the match and Paulo Pereira’s side took back the lead, 22-21, with only 12 minutes to go.
The intensifying pressure seemed to play a factor in a hectic finish in which both teams missed opportunities to score and Portuguese keeper Gustavo Capdeville, who finished the match with 15 saves and a 41% saving efficiency was able to lift Portugal to a 31-28 win.
This wasn't the only big surprise of the night as Egypt recorded a sensational win of 28-24 while Hungary downed the Netherland 36-32.
This means that Portugal advances to the main round with four points, Norway gets zero points, Hungary three points, and the Netherlands one point. Egypt grabs all four, while Croatia takes two points with them to the main round.
Elsewhere Germany clinched a dominant win over the Czech Republic (29-22) while Switzerland prevalied in a high-stakes duel with Poland (30-28) for a main round spot