Two tight matches and a giant victory for the ‘Red Wolves’

71 goals in Luxembourg, a 17 goal-advantage in Belgium and a draw in Georgia – the first-leg matches of the relegation round in the EHF EURO 2022 qualifiers served some delis. While Belgium left Cyprus chanceless, Estonia took an astonishing away victory in Luxembourg and Georgia drew with Finland.

All rematches will be played on Sunday, with the aggregate winners to join the field of 32 teams that will fight for 20 spots at the EHF EURO 2022 in Hungary and Slovakia.

RELEGATION ROUND, FIRST LEG
Belgium vs Cyprus 24:7 (13:3)

1,450 fans in Hasselt saw a more than dominant performance from the ‘Red Wolves’, who left Cyprus chanceless. After missing a spot for the intermediate qualification round for the 2021 World Championship due to a loss against Turkey, Belgium had an easy-going evening versus Cyprus on Wednesday night. 

After 20 minutes, the result was 11:2, and the match had essentially been decided already. The hosts could have even finished the first half with a higher advantage than 13:3.

Though Belgium did no more than they had to, Cyprus only scored one goal in the first 15 minutes of the second half and were down 4:19. The visitors profited from the lack of concentration in the end – but the deal definitely seems to be sealed before the second leg on Sunday. 

Ilyas D’Hanis was the top scorer with six goals – only one strike less than the whole Cyprus team managed to score.

Georgia vs Finland 24:24 (11:10)

In contrast to the match in Belgium, the duel in Tbilisi was a true thriller, equal until the very end. 

Finally, even eight goals from top scorer Giorgi Tskhovrebadze were not enough for the hosts to travel to Finland with an advantage in their luggage. After an 11:10 advantage for Georgia, the winner of the 2019 IHF Emerging Nations tournament, at the break, Finland managed to level the result in the end, thanks to six strikes from Teemu Tamminen and five goals from Nico Rönnberg. 

Finland now have a great chance for their third straight participation in the final qualification round for an EHF EURO event.

Luxembourg vs Estonia 33:38 (17:18)

In the play-offs for the EHF EURO 2018 qualifiers, Luxembourg lost against Estonia. Now, the Baltic side took the upper hand again in the first leg of the relegation round. 

For more than 50 minutes, the match was level, then Estonia took advantage of their higher efficiency in attack. 

Luxembourg started strong, with the advantage at 3:0 and 5:3, but Estonia drew back to equal quite easily. After 22:22 in minute 40, although Luxembourg never had the lead, Estonia could not cast off the hosts. 

At 33:34, Luxembourg had the chance to level again, before a treble strike ended all the hosts’ hopes in a pure goal galore, during which Tommy Wirtz (11 for Luxembourg) and Karl Toom (10 for Estonia) reached double figures.