Now Austria faces elimination from the European Championship

European Championship: Horrific first half proves fatal for Austria

Tobias Wagner(Bild: Eva Manhart)

Ahead of their final match in the preliminary round of the European Handball Championship in Denmark/Sweden/Norway, Austria's men no longer have their fate in their own hands. On Saturday, Mykola Bilyk and his teammates had to bow to multiple final tournament title holders Spain 25:30 (12:19) after a disastrous first half. While the Iberians booked their ticket to the main round, Austria's chances of finishing in the top two in Group A in Herning are now slim.

To conclude, the team of new coach Iker Romero, who is still waiting for his first victory, will face Serbia on Monday (6:00 p.m./live on ORF eins). The Balkan team surprised Germany two and a half hours after Austria's performance with a 30:27 victory, keeping Austria's chances alive. In order to advance, the ÖHB team needs not only a victory over Serbia by at least four goals, but also help from Spain in their match against Germany.

Almost exactly two years to the day after the historic 33:33 draw against Spain, which sealed Austria's promotion to the main round and the Iberians' elimination, it was a difficult start for the red-white-reds. Initially error-prone in offense and lacking in defense, they found themselves trailing by three goals (4:7) for the first time in the tenth minute. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Lukas Hutecek, the attack improved, but at the back, the opponents continued to dominate.

Defensive shutout in the first half
In the narrow 27:30 defeat to Germany, the defense had been the team's strong point, but now neither Constantin Möstl nor Leon Bergmann were able to distinguish themselves, not least because of the many free throws. Up front, the strong goalkeeper Sergey Hernandez was too often the final stop, and this was compounded by a missed counterattack and a seven-meter throw. Under these circumstances, the fact that the three-goal deficit held until the 19th minute could still be considered a success.

But then things moved quickly. Spain pulled away from 13:10 to 17:10 (26th minute) and ultimately forced Austria into its biggest half-time deficit in a competitive game since January 2014 with seven goals. Back then, it was also at the European Championships in Herning Island (9:17). At least the restart was open. With a 3:1 run, they first reduced the deficit to 15:20 (35th minute) and went into the last quarter of an hour at 19:24.

Möstl almost became the deciding factor in the finish
It was a brief period of brilliance from Möstl, who – suddenly back to his old self – made several saves to bring the score to 20:24 (44th minute). With around two and a half minutes to go, the necessary draw at 25:29 and a man advantage still seemed within reach. There were still chances, but they were not taken. "That's very, very disappointing, of course. The Spanish were one step ahead of us in every respect and simply better. We wanted to be as aggressive as we were against Germany, but we may not have quite managed that," said wing Sebastian Frimmel. Captain Bilyk agreed: "To be completely honest, you have to say that the Spanish were a step ahead of us. They consistently exploited every mistake we made."

Constantin Möstl(Bild: GEPA)

ÖHB players disappointed
Pivot and ÖHB top scorer Tobias Wagner (6 goals) regretted that, as against Germany, not every player had performed at their highest level. "We need every player to perform at their best. A compact team where every player gives 100 percent of their performance. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened in the last two games."

  Goalie Möstl was particularly disappointed with the first half of the game. "We, and especially I, have to take a good look at ourselves. That's not good enough. I didn't imagine it would be like this. We always get ourselves into these shitty situations, for whatever reason, whether it's the goalkeeper, the defense, or the attack. Something always goes wrong for a short time, it just hurts like hell," said Möstl. Hutecek was also disappointed: "The group was extremely difficult, unfortunately it wasn't enough this time, which hurts a lot. We just didn't have a great day, we didn't play a great game."

ÖHB sports director Patrick Fölser hopes that the small chance can still be seized. "Mathematically, the result still gives us a chance. Of course, a few things have to come together. Our goal now must be to go all out against Serbia once again. And then we'll see what we can achieve."

Results: 
Austria – Spain 25:30 (12:19)
Top scorers for Austria: Wagner 6, Bilyk and Hutecek 5 each
Serbia – Germany 30:27 (13:17)