Finnish victory causes new tension

After their 22:36 loss away to Greece, Finland struck back in the re-match of the first stage of the qualification for the 2021 World Championship.

Thanks to the 32:28 home win against the previously unbeaten Greek side, the team of Ola Lindgren caused new tension in the group. Greece and Israel (after an expected victory against Cyprus) are on six points each after four rounds, while Finland (4 points) need to hope for a miracle to progress from this group.

• The final rounds will be played on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
• Groups 1 and 3 of this qualification stage will be decided in tournaments in Luxembourg and Italy from 10 to 12 January.
• In Group 4, host Turkey already clinched the berth for the next qualification stage in October.

GROUP 2

Israel vs Cyprus 28:21 (12:10)

“We got all we wanted from this double header”, Israel coach Oleg Boutenko said after beating Cyprus for the second time. 48 hours after the 33:23 away the Israel side took a well-deserved victory to now be on six points after four rounds.

Like in the first duel, the Cypriots were stronger at the start, being ahead 7:5 after 16 minutes in Tel Aviv, backed by the goals of their top scorer Julius Argyrou, who netted seven times in total.

But when the Israel defence, including goalkeeper Moshe Elimelech (an overall of ten saves), improved, the tide had already turned before the break.

Thanks to a 7:2 series, Israel were ahead 12:9 – but the visitors remained level until the middle of the second half with the score 20:17 in favour of the hosts. Like on Thursday, Cyprus ran out of power, as Israel easily took a seven-goal win.

In the end, five players had four goals each. With still zero points to their name, Cyprus are out for the race for the next stage.

Finland vs Greece 32:28 (16:14)

Another defeat would have been the end of all Finnish hopes, but now Ola Lindgren’s men are back on track. Finland had recovered perfectly from the cruel 22:36 defeat on Thursday.

On the “home soil” of his Arena in Riihimäki, Cocks star Nico Rönnberg was the hero with eleven strikes in a match, in which Finland had taken control right from the start.

The 4:3 lead in minute nine had been the last Greek advantage, but it took until the middle of the second half, before the hosts managed to shake off their opponent.

Finally, the deal was sealed in minute 46, when Finland were ahead by six goals for the first time at 26:20, and the biggest gap was eight goals.

The only good news of the day for the Greek side was that they have won the direct encounter thanks to the clear win in the first leg – in case both sides are equal on points at the end. After all, Israel have fate in their hands going in to the last two rounds, travelling to Finland on Wednesday and hosting Greece on Saturday.