The second day brought the second surprise in the tournament: after Germany shocked the Netherlands in the opening match, Czech Republic did the same against Hungary. The Czech team had a now or never chance against an injury-hit Hungary and they put the pressure on the Hungarian team right from the first minutes. Hungary struggled to find the way to the Czech goal and the scoring efficiency of the Hungarians was very low, while the Czech team used their chances. During the whole first half, Czech Republic was in front while Hungary had to run behind: the Hungarian attacks were slow and without any idea while the defense wasn’t working well either. The Czech girls were constantly in front by 2-3 goals, even if their best-known player Iveta Luzumova wasn’t able to score and the best Hungarian player was goalkeeper Eva Kiss. The first half ended with a three-goal Czech advantage (10-13).
The beginning of the second half was as one imagined this match to be. The Hungarian defense started to work better while in attack, Anna Kovács’s first goal meant the barriers broke down in her first major international tournament: in the next minutes, she was unstoppable. After just five minutes gone, Hungary took the lead for the first time (14-13). Instead of taking control of the game, the Hungarian team fell back again, starting to make easy mistakes and helping the Czech girls maintaining their chances for their historic victory. By two quick goals from Jana Knedlikova and a change in the goal – Petra Kudlackova entered the game really well -, the Czech team was in front again, and Hungary fell into pieces again. A few minutes later, their lead was 4 goals for the first time in the match, and the team of Kim Rasmussen seemed in serious trouble. Neither the result, nor the game flow and nor the Czech Republic gave the chance to Hungary to turn the match around. The Czech team had several chances in the final minutes to decide the game but the Czech hands were a bit shaky in the deciding moments. Petra Ruckova broke a five-minute goal break on her side and this was a kiss of death for Hungary in this game. Czech Republic took a surprising, historic, but absolutely deserved 27-22 victory against Hungary.
EHF EURO 2016 – Group C – 1st round
Hungary – Czech Republic 22-27 (10-13)
Hungary: A. Kovács 7, K. Klivinyi 4, A. Kisfaludy 3, A. Görbicz 2(1), N. Schatzl 1, K. Triscsuk 1, B. Bódi 1, I. Erdősi 1, V. Lukács 1, D. Hornyák 1
Czech Republic: M. Hrbkova 5(2), V. Mala 5, P. Adamkova 4, J. Knedlikova 4, K. Kordovska 3, M. Jerabkova 3, P. Ruckova 2, S. Marcikova 1
Penalties: 1/1 ; 2/2
Suspensions: 10 minutes ; 6 minutes
Player of the match: Petra Adamkova
RSS