Austria’s greatly rejuvenated men’s national handball team has passed its first test.
Three days following the 35:33 home win over Estonia, Rot-Weiss-Rot also had a long struggle in the second leg in Tallinn on Sunday, but finally celebrated a relatively clear 27:24 (14:13) win and is thus in the final Qualifying Playoff. The hurdle there is a much higher one on April 13 (in Bregenz) and April 16 (in Hafnarfjördur) with Iceland sixth at the European Championship.
After a difficult start, Austria had to wait 4:44 minutes for the first goal, but then pulled away from 0:2 to 5:2 thanks to a 5:0 run. Nikola Bilyk and Co. might not take this momentum with them. Little went together up front, and even though goalie Ralf Patrick Häusle made several saves, the home side worked their way back up to 6:6 (19 th ). The game stayed balanced from then on. For Austria, the wing throws proved to be a successful recipe, the veterans Sebastian Frimmel and Robert Weber scored 8 of the 14 goals together before the break.
Even following the change of sides, the game remained hard-fought. Austria was able to pull away once to 18:16 (37th), but missed numerous chances in the following minutes. Estonia stayed on and made it 19:19 in the 44th minute. Only then were the guests able to take the decisive step, also thanks to several failed Estonian attempts. With the 22:19 (49th) the game was over. Despite numerous failures – including Lukas Hutecek, Janko Bozovic, Gerald Zeiner as well as Maximilian and Alexander Hermann – the squad of coaches landed Ales Pajovic a well-deserved victory that, thanks to an overall score of 62:57, keeps hopes alive for the 2023 World Cup in Poland and Sweden.
Pajovic was naturally very satisfied. “I wasn’t sure that we would win both games. There are so many young people and we didn’t have much time. In attack we had a few problems, got hectic and made a few stupid mistakes. But the defense was great, Ralf Patrick Häusle was outstanding once more,” said the Slovenian. “We know who Iceland is, they have superstars and are the clear favourites. But anything is possible in handball. We have to enjoy these two wins.”
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