The Czechs were supposed to enter the qualification earlier, but the initial double match with the Faroe Islands was postponed twice due to coronavirus. Therefore, the representatives will now play three matches in five days at the turn of April and May. They will be welcomed by the Faroe Islands on Friday and retaliated with Russia on Sunday. The remaining opponent in the qualification is Ukraine. The first two teams from each group will advance to the championships in Hungary and Slovakia and will be joined by four teams from third places.
Trtík, who already led the national team from 2002 to 2005, took over the team after the January end of Jan Filip and Daniel Kubeš. Both coaches were dismissed by a close majority by the federal executive after the national team renounced participation in the January World Cup in Egypt due to the high number of cases of coronavirus in the squad.
The Czech team arrived in Moscow unusually on the day of the match. Due to the coronavirus situation, Trtík lacked several players and brought only 14 handball players to Russia. Even in the reduced line-up, however, the guests unexpectedly resisted and kept up with the big favorite practically all the time.
During the first half, Trtík’s charges formed a two-goal lead several times, but in the last ten minutes before the break they lost it and the Russians went to the cabins with a one-goal lead.
The Czechs kept their opponent in the middle of the second act within three years ago, who eliminated them in the playoffs of the world qualification three years ago. Then they were silent for more than five minutes and the favorite with a series of several goals bounced less than 10 minutes before the end into the lead 26:21, which turned out to be decisive.
The guests were still able to dramatize the end and in the penultimate and final minute they managed to differentiate from one goal, but they did not have time for a surprising comparison. Even seven goals of the best scorer of the match, Tomáš Číp, did not help the points of the Czech team.
| Qualification of the European Championship 2022 handball players – 3rd group: |
| Russia – Czech Republic 28:27 (14:13) |
| Squad and goals of the Czech Republic: Carrots, Galia – Hrstka 4/1, Bečvář, Babák 4/1, Číp 7, Vančo, Klíma 5, V. Patzel 2, Solák 2, Užek 3, Gřešek, Piroch, Franc. |
| Most goals of Russia: Kosorotov 6/3. Judges: Erdogan, Özdeniz (both Tur.). 7-meter throws: 5/4 – 4/2. Exclusion: 5: 1. |
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