Israel set stage for “final” against Greece thanks to last-second draw

What a thriller in Rihimäki. Thanks to a last second draw in Finland, Israel still harbour hopes of proceeding to the intermediate stage of the European qualification for the Men’s IHF World Championship 2021.

On Wednesday, Oleg Boutenko’s team turned an initial 1:9 deficit into a 26:26 draw and now rank second with seven points in group 2. While Finland (now with five points), are out of the race for the ticket to the next stage, Greece top the ranking with eight points after their expected clear win against Cyprus.

The decision will be taken in in Tel Aviv on Saturday, when Israel host Greece. A draw is enough for the visitors, while a victory would grant Israel the ticket to the next stage, which takes place in April.

The identities of the teams progressing from the two remaining groups, 1 and 3, will be decided in tournaments from Friday to Sunday in Luxembourg and Italy. Turkey have already been confirmed as the winner of the group 4 tournament in October.

GROUP 2
Finland vs Israel 26:26 (12:7)

Finland had a more than brilliant start, leading 9:1 after only 19 minutes. Their defence stood like a wall, and they punished every turnover with easy goals.

Israel found their rhythm quite late, but reduced the gap to 7:12 at the break – and then started a great chase. By the 36th minute, everything was open again, as Finland were ahead by only two goals at 14:12.

The hosts kept their lead, but Israel were breathing down their necks. With 90 seconds left Israel closed the gap to one goal with a double strike.

Israel coach Oleg Boutenko took his last timeout nine seconds before the buzzer, and Israel equalised with three seconds to go. Finnish coach Ola Lindgren called his own timeout, but Finland failed to regain the lead with the final buzzer.

Despite 10 goals from Nico Rönnberg, who is now the top scorer of this qualification stage with 38 strikes, the Finnish hopes were shattered. Niv Sidi and Yermiyahu Levy were Israel’s best scorers with five goals each.

Greece vs Cyprus 30:16 (15:8)

As expected, Greece took their fourth victory in their fifth match of this qualification easily against their neighbours, who are still on zero points. Greece forged ahead to 7:3 and 15:7 to control the match in the first half.  

Having in mind the tough final game at Israel on Sunday, the Greek side saved some energy, but even extended the gap early to 10 and then to 15 goals’ difference.

The top scorers in a mostly one-sided match were Charalampos Mallios with five goals for Greece and the Cypriot duo Julios Argyrou and Vassilis Demosthenous with six strikes each. Argyrou is now second-ranked in the top scorers’ list with 33 strikes.