LIVE BLOG: Cross matches open the day, Austria with a huge lead
13:15
Excellent work today from Austria's goalkeeper Leon Bergmann, who's saved 12 shots (44.4 per cent success rate). His participation in this match is over, however, as his head coach decided to give a rare chance to Marko Bogojevic between the posts.
13:13
Nikola Zoric's saves are finally paying off to Serbia who take a 24:22 lead over Romania after four straight goals.
Switzerland are closing in on victory against Czechia (27:23).
13:10
Norway are running out of gas, focus and probably motivation. Austria's lead is increasing by the minute, it's now 24:15 as we reach the final 15 minutes.
13:02
Bright start from Czechia in the second half as they put their nose in front against Switzerland (21:18). It's still a tight battle between Romania and Serbia (19:18).
Austria are showing no signs of slowing down, Norway is now down by eight goals (20:12) although Austria have two players with two-minute suspensions at the moment.
12:57
And now it's seven! Huber scores from fast break and forces Norway's head coach to call timeout once again (18:11).
12:56
Huge moment in Celje as Möstl scores to put Austria six goals in front of Norway, 17:11. That's their biggest advantage today.
12:50
Second half is under way.
12:35 | HALF-TIME
AUSTRIA - NORWAY 14:10
Austrians have more energy and freshness, which combined with their excellent defence gives them a four-goal lead at the break. Norwegians seem kind of deflated and it could have been worse for them as Austrians shortly held a five-goal lead.
ROMANIA - SERBIA 15:15
For only a moment Serbia were up by two goals, but the first half ended the way it started - with both teams tied.
SWITZERLAND - CZECHIA 16:15
Switzerland hang on to a slim advantage, having almost completely let their five-goal lead (14:9) slip away.
12:26
Romania and Serbia are again tied (11:11), with no team having a lead bigger than a goal.
Valentin Wolfisberg's four goals have helped Switzerland move away from Czechia a little bit (13:9).
12:24
First timeout of the match and no wonder it's the Norwegian bench with the call. For the first time Austrians have a four-goal lead (11:7). Austria have eight different scorers and their goalkeeper Leon Bergmann has saved 50 per cent of shots so far (7/14)!
12:18
Norway are trying to get something going here, but the Austrians look solid in defence and good enough upfront. They lead 9:6.
12:11
Nothing to separate Serbia and Romania so far (5:5), Switzerland with a minimal lead over Czechia (6:5).
12:08
In these types of matches, when teams are probably disappointed not to have qualified for the semi-finals, a question of motivation is always brought up.
Judging by their expressions and body language, it seems as though the Austrians are slightly more motivated than the Norwegians at the moment. They've scored the first three goals of the match and now lead 5:2.
Also, it's worth noting that the Austrians had some four or five hours of rest more than Norway after their respective matches on Thursday.
12:00
Austria finished third in their main round group, having lost to Spain and Portugal and beaten Iceland. Norway dropped to cross matches after yesterday's loss to Denmark, which left them in last place of their group. First possession to the Austrians.
11:50
At 12:00 we also have two more scheduled matches. Romania - Serbia in Tri Lilije (cross match 13-16) and Switzerland - Czechia in Golovec (17-20).
11:44
First semi-final between Portugal and Germany starts at 18:00 CET in Arena Zlatorog in Celje, but before that we will have two cross matches 5-8. Starting at 12:00, Austria play Norway, and then from 14:20 we have Sweden against Iceland.
11:40
Also, here's our preview of today's semi-final matches Portugal - Germany, which is a rematch of their clash in the preliminary round, and Denmark - Spain, where the Danes are looking for revenge after the Spaniards beat them last year in the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship final.
