The senseless nine seconds that saved Spain: "It was the craziest game of my life"

• Chronicle Spain resurrects for the greatest victory of a generation

For the uninitiated eye in handball, the liability is an incomprehensible penalty.

For the expert eye, too.

According to the regulations, referees can signal passive when there is "an attempt to get a position to shoot on goal."

What exactly does that mean?

Who knows.

Unlike in basketball, where possession is limited to 24 seconds, in handball you can whistle passively after a two-minute play or in just a breath.

It depends on the criteria of the referees.

On most occasions, they first raise an arm as a warning and, shortly after, if the goal is not sought, they punish.

But sometimes you don't need a warning.

Norway will always remember it as a sudden liability left them without the World Cup semifinals and allowed Spain to win after extra time.

Their leader,

, was in disbelief.

His fans at the Ergo Arena in Gdansk cried out to heaven.

The error of the winger

had no justification.

There were nine seconds left in regulation time and Norway had everything going for them: they were winning by one goal (25-24), they were playing superiority and they were in possession of the ball.

Impossible to fail.

Or not.

After overcoming the pressure from Spain, Sagosen crossed the middle of the field, handed the ball to center

and, this one, with

in front, he made a pass to Bjornsen, who was alone.

There were only six seconds left.

At that moment, the winger, infallible throughout the match -nine of nine in shots-, could have done anything.

Approach the goal and score to sentence.

Approach the goal and throw the ball anywhere: to the upper stands if necessary.

Or simply approach the goal, without more.

But he did the one thing he couldn't do: he stopped and sent the ball back to teammate

.

The referees whistled passive.

And Reinkind had to put the ball down immediately.

With only four seconds remaining,

caught it quickly, handed it to his brother Dani who had stayed behind as a pigeon keeper, in the opposite field, and he smashed the Norwegian goal with his shot.

Tie.

Extension.

"It's been a rush"

"It was the craziest game of my life, I don't think it was even the last Champions League final, and the good thing is that he has opted for our side," explained winger Ángel Fernández, who won the last Champions League with Barcelona in the shootout of penalties.

"It has been a rush and although we have tried to take advantage of it in the initial stretch of the first extension, we had a great rival in front of us", recognized the coach

, not without reason.

Piotr HawalejAP

Because after the ruling, surprisingly Norway didn't falter, they kept up their game.

Despite having been revived, Spain still needed two extensions, an anthological goal from Dani Dujshebaev and a forever save from

to qualify for the World Cup semifinals.

They will face Denmark again this Friday (6:00 p.m., Teledeporte).

Neither the casual fan nor the most studious coach in the world knows very well how the passive works.

But Spain is in the World Cup semifinals thanks to such an ambiguous rule.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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• Handball World Cup