Serbia and Macedonia heading for final round

Serbia and FYR Macedonia both stand with a great chance to qualify for the World Championship 2019 after Sunday's play-off matches, which concluded the first leg.

Serbia defeated Portugal 28:21 at home, while Macedonia won by one goal more, 32:24 against Romania, also at home.

Belarus and Austria drew 28:28, which leaves the Austrians with the better chance, having the home right in the second leg.

Belarus vs Austria 28:28 (15:15)

Despite being four goals up three times in the second half, Austria did not manage to revenge the narrow defeat against Belarus at the EHF EURO 2018, but the draw in the Sport Palace Uruchje in Minsk still gives the Austrians the edge before the second leg in Vienna on Wednesday.

Both teams felt the joy of being three goals up during the first half, but at the half-time buzzer, it was all back to equal again.

After and equal start, Belarus seemed to be getting a grip on the game, as they got ahead 6:3 and 7:4, but Austria caught up again at 7:7, and after 20 minutes, the visitors got their first lead at 10:9.

One minute later, that lead was increased to two at 22:20, and with four minutes left of the first half, it was the Austrians´ turn to be leading by three goals, 14:11.

Still, Belarus managed to catch up before half-time.

The Belarusians also started the second half by taking the lead back at 16:15, but the next five goals were all Austrian and gave the visitors their first four-goal lead at 20:16 six and a half minute after the break.

After leading by two to three goals for a while, Austria went four goals up again at 25:21 with 10 minutes left and at 26:22 three minutes still.

Still, through a strong finish, Belarus managed to come back once again and equalise on a penalty from Maksim Baranau with 19 seconds left.

It was a day for the shooting playmakers, as Barys Pukhouski scored seven goals for Belarus; the same number Nikola Bilyk scored for Austria.

Serbia vs Portugal 28:21 (14:10)

Serbia took a major step towards the final round through their clear win in front of 3,500 enthusiastic spectators in Nis Sunday evening, and there is no doubt that Portugal have a steep mountain to climb in Povoa de Varzim Thusday night.

Serbia were completely dominating during most of the first half.

From early two-goal lead at 4:2 and 5:3, they went on to leading 11:4 after 18 and a half minute, and this seven-goal lead was maintained until the last minutes of the half, in which Portugal managed to reduce the gap with three goals in a row, making use of the fact that the home team did not score a goal for the last six minutes before half time.

Right from the beginning of the second half, Serbia increased the distance again, though.

It did not take them long to get six goals up again at 16:10, and for most of the rest of the match were they altering between five and six goal leads, before they re-established their seven-goal lead from the first half at the end.

FYR Macedonia vs Romania 32:24 (15:10)

Macedonia do not seem to have to worry too much about their final round berth.

An eight goal lead after the Sunday night match in the Boris Trajkovski in Skopje is a substantial buffer for the Macedonians to bring with them to Romania.

Romania actually got a fine start and scored the first two goals of the match.

From that point on, however, they did not score for the next 12 minutes, of which the Macedonians made use to score eight goals in a row and get six goals ahead.

Romania managed to reduce the distance to four goals a couple of times, but towards half time, the home team increased their lead again, this time to seven goals at 15:8, before the visitors were able to score the last two goals of the first half.

If the last minutes of the first half had given the Romanians any sense of beginning the catch up, they were proved wrong as soon as the second half started.

Immediately, the Macedonians started to increase their lead again, until it was at its highest, 24:14 12 and a half minutes into the half.

During the rest of the match, Romania never got any closer than being seven goals down, and at the end they had to take an eight-goal defeat with them home.