This time, Arián Andó, Szabolcs Szöllősi, Bence Krakovszki and Zsolt Krakovszki were left out of the twenty-man squad of the Hungarian team, that is, Adrián Sipos – who had a wound in his mouth stitched up after the previous match – took on the game. The Hungarians’ previous match against Iceland ended on Tuesday after 10 p.m., and on Wednesday they traveled by train from Munich to Cologne. On Wednesday night, they had a moving training – but not in the Lanxess Arena, which hosts the matches -, but the fatigue was not visible at the beginning of the meeting against the Austrians, as they started with a 3-0 series.
In particular, Gábor Ancsin was in his element, hitting the net four times in ten minutes, and the difference was already four goals in the 12th minute. The Hungarian team did not force a fast game, the Austrian team did, and soon equalized.
Miklós Rosta scored three times, but national team captain José María Rodríguez Vaquero made more substitutions than usual – probably due to the tense pace and busy schedule of the last few days – and the momentum was broken during this period.
Richárd Bodó scored three goals, Rosta curled into the empty net from the middle, but this time the defense of the Hungarian team did not work as efficiently as before, so the score was tied at the break.
The Austrians attacked with superior numbers by replacing their goalkeeper, the Hungarian national team tried to take advantage of this with empty-net goals, but made several mistakes. Máthé Dominik started the second half with two goals and three mistakes, and the opponent took the lead in the 43rd minute – for the first time during the match (22-23). In attack, the Hungarian wingers were not employed, only those playing in the interior positions were forced, thereby making the work of the Austrian defenders somewhat easier, who took advantage of the opportunity.
The mistakes and missed chances were counterbalanced by the saves of László Bartucz, who came on as a substitute, and then with the goal of Bóka Bendegúz, the advantage was again with the Hungarians (28-27).
In the first half, Dominik Máthé missed a shot again (he finished with a score of 7/3), the Austrians regained the lead, then Gergő Fazekas equalized, but Mykola Bilyk scored the opponent’s winning goal 25 seconds before the end.
The Hungarian team, which unexpectedly made a lot of mistakes, lost a winnable match against the Austrians, who also made a lot of mistakes.
Kristóf Palasics saved six shots, László Bartucz five. On the other side, Bilyk contributed to the success with eight hits, Robert Weber and Lukas Hutecek six each. Szeged left winger Sebastian Frimmel scored twice. In the 49th match between the two teams, this was the 12th Austrian success, in addition to 35 Hungarian victories and two draws.
Result, semi-final, round 1, group I
Austria-Hungary 30-29 (17-17)
Cologne, v.: D. Accoto Martins, R. Accoto Martins (Portuguese)
Shots/goals: 49/30 and 46/29 respectively
Goals from seven meters: 3/3 and 2/1
Exhibitions: 8 and 4 minutes respectively
Hungary: Palasics – Lékai 4, Szita, Bánhidi 4, Sipos, Ancsin 4, Imre 2, substitutions: Bóka 3, Rosta 4, Ilic 1, Ligetvári, Bodó 3, Hanusz, Bartucz, Máthé 3, Fazekas 1
It will be played later
France-Croatia 18.00
Germany-Iceland 20.30
The winner of the European Championship – or the best team that does not yet have a quota – advances to the summer Olympics in Paris. The next two best teams, which have not yet qualified for the five-hoop games or the qualifying tournament, can participate in the qualifiers in March.
