Jonas Wille ended his first IHF Men’s World Championship game as Norway coach with a double-digit victory against the legendary Macedonian Kiril Lazarov, now coach of the North Macedonia team.
A slow start to the game gave way to an eventual 66 goals as the Norwegians, who took silver at the 2017 and 2019 IHF Men’s World Championships, were able to ease into Poland/Sweden 2023.
The opening matches in Group F saw a big difference between the rivals, as Netherlands defeated Argentina by ten goals, and Norway beat North Macedonia by an even wider margin.
If the Dutch and the Norwegians also win their games on Sunday, both sides will secure progression to the main round.
It is a new dawn for the North Macedonia men’s senior national team, as their top scorer and legend Kiril Lazarov met an end to his playing career. Yet Lazarov did not call it quits on North Macedonia, becoming the side’s coach in his first stint in this position.
The lack of experience could have been an issue, but for a player with such an illustrious career, everything went perfectly – despite the huge pressure applied to him even though he was only making the first steps.