Reaching the EHF European Cup Men final was already quite a milestone for Nærbø IL, but after a 29:25 home win in the first leg against CS Minaur Baia Mare on Sunday, the Norwegian team have a fair chance to claim the first title in their history.
However, nothing is yet decided in this tie, and Baia Mare will try to make a comeback in the second leg, to be held on 28 May in Romania.
FINAL, FIRST LEG
Nærbø IL (NOR) vs CS Minaur Baia Mare (ROU) 29:25 (15:12)
- Nærbø – from a village of just 7,000 inhabitants in southwestern Norway – switched their home leg to the 5,000-seater DNB Arena in nearby Stavanger to accommodate more spectators
- led by Andreas Haugseng and Theodor Svensgard in attack and relying on good defence, Nærbo led 6:3 by the 12th minute
- following a timeout, Baia Mare turned the tide to get in front 11:10, yet a 5:1 run late in the first half secure a three-goal advantage for the home side at the break
- supported by their vocal crowd, Nærbø never gave up their lead after the restart, cruising to a four-goal victory
- Iosif Buzle and Stefan Vujovic were Baia Mare's top scorers with four goals apiece. However, Vujovic received a red card in the 41st minute
Haugseng family lead the way
While Rune Haugseng is an assistant coach to the Dane Heine Jensen, his son Andreas and nephew Tord play key roles for Nærbø IL. They proved it in Stavanger, with Tord the top scorer of the match with nine goals - including seven in the second half - while Andreas added six more.
Another Haugseng - Tord's brother, Rassin - also took part in the game, but failed to score. Overall, two members of the family accounted for more than a half of their team's goal tally (15 of 29) and put Nærbø IL one step closer to completing the fairytale
