Germany are in the Men’s EHF EURO 2016 Final thanks to the winning goal of right back Kai Hafner, who found the way to the net of Ole Erevik after 70 minutes of great battle at Tauron Arena – 34:33 (27:27 – 14:13). Three seconds before the final buzzer, lefthander who came to Poland only four days ago as replacement for injured Steffen Weinhold, scored the most important goal in his career for a big victory against Norway.
Tobbias Reichman (10 goals) opened first semi-final in shooting mood which initialy pushed Germans ahead of the rival in the first 15 minutes – 9:5, when Norwegian coach Christian Berge had to call for a time-out. The “hero” of EURO 2016 managed to take his team back on the track led by Esper Lie Hansen and Bjarte Myrhol. Experienced line-player leveled in 26th minute n 12:12, while his compatriot left wing Jondal took Scandi guys in the lead – 13:12, after starting 4:3.
The first and only option of German back-line was newcomer Julius Kuhn, but that wasn’t enough to stay positive in the match for the first German final since 2007. Fantastic Norwegian lefthander Kristian Bjornsen took responsibility in his hands to turnover on his team side – 19:17.
Tactics of strictly playing on Sander Sagosen gave result, so Germans made 3:0 series for a new lead – 20:19.
Until the final whistle, both teams stayed on only one goal difference. Norway had 27:26 and 75 seconds to score the winning goal after time-out, but they didn’t. Punishment came with the goal of Rune Dahmke 19 seconds before the buzzer, who scored for extra-time.
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