For long stretches of a very intense game, they were at eye level with the defending champions. But for the sensation, a victory over the two-time world champion, the men of the Austrian Handball Federation (ÖHB) made “too many mistakes”, as team boss Ales Pajovic said. “But playing like that against the reigning European champion makes me very proud,” added the Slovenian.
Pajovic and his players mourned three to four missed chances in the counterattack, some free throws from the position attack and two wasted balls after successful defenses. “That is too much against a team like Spain,” summed up the ÖHB head coach. However, Pajovic was extremely satisfied with the consistent implementation of his tactical guidelines in attack and cover.
Austria impressed against Spain
Austria shows a solid performance against defending champions Spain and is only just under 26:30.
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“Spain was within reach”
“I think the first half was good. The disadvantage, like against Croatia, was that we didn’t take advantage of our chances, ”said Nikola Bilyk. The captain of the Austrians from the left back was not dominant this time, which was also due to the effective offensive coverage of the Spaniards against him. “But we made it easier to attack than we did against the Croatians,” said Bilyk. “That’s why it’s a shame.”
In the end it was three hits for Bilyk – from six throws. “If we had gone into the second half with the same intensity, we would have had a chance of winning,” said the Kiel legionnaire self-critically. “Spain was within a long distance, they didn’t cross us,” said 23-year-old Bilyk, mourning a possible sensation against the number one European title candidate.
“We can learn a lot from the Spaniards. They stayed calm throughout the game, knew their strength, and they showed us that at the end of the game, ”said the ÖHB leader and paid respect to the more ripped-off opponent. “We made mistakes in the second half, and Spain immediately took the opportunity to score three and four goals. It’s not easy to play against them. “
“A little too little over 60 minutes”
19-year-old Lukas Hutecek, who got over 20 minutes of play as an attacking 5-1 defense, swayed between pride and anger like his colleagues: “It was a great feeling to be on the record against the reigning champion” said the youngster from the Fivers Margareten. “We can be really proud. With a little bit more luck we could have won. Now we are concentrating on the next game, ”said Hutecek.
“It was a good game from us again, but a little too little over 60 minutes to really challenge the Spaniards,” Sebastian Frimmel analyzed the second main round game in front of 9,000 spectators in the town hall. “We could have led during the break. And if you open up a gap so early, it’s always difficult to come back against teams like that, ”said the left wing, who scored four times.
On Monday (8.30 p.m., live on ORF1) the Austrians will continue with the big hit against Germany at the home European Championship. The hall will be full again – also with German fans, who witnessed a wafer-thin defeat by their team against Croatia on Thursday evening and had to say goodbye to the semi-final dreams. With victories over Germany and Belarus (Tuesday, 6.15 p.m., live on ORF1), the ÖHB men want to make it to third place in the group to move into the game for fifth place.
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