Brazil vs. FYR Macedonia 28:27 (15:13)
Big surprise
and happy end for the Pan-Americans: By winning the thriller against FYR
Macedonia, Brazil secured the third place at the tournament in Gothenburg,
whilst the Balkan team – which had arrived in Sweden with high hopes - remains
without a single point. Despite the low importance of the game (both teams had
been out of the race for the Olympics tickets before), especially Brazil played
with heart, passion and power.
After losing
against Sweden and Hungary the team of coach Javier Cuesta was perfectly
prepared and highly motivated to finish their mission with a victory. Counting
on an again very offensive defense the Pan-Americans avoided the distance shots
of the Macedonians – and their top scorer Kiril Lazarov finished the match with
only six goals from 15 attempts.
The first half
was absolutely equal with slight advantages for the Brazilians, who took a
well-deserved two-goal lead to the dressing room. Right after the break the
Macedonians had their best period, scoring 4:0 series and took the lead at
18:17. Cuesta took his time-out at the right time, “causing” four straight
goals of his teams, which then did not give the lead from their hands until the
end. Twelve minutes before the end, the distance was four goals, but by
improving their defense FYR Macedonia was close to turn the game at the 25:26
with six minutes on the scoreboard.
100 seconds
before the end Teixeira scored the 28:26 for Brazil, 30 seconds before the
final buzzer Lazarov hit the back of the net to reduce the gap to one goal –
again Cuesta took his green time-out card. But his team caused a technical
mistake, still 19 seconds to go – time-out FYR Macedonia. But the final shot of
the Europeans was blocked – as Teixeira caught the ball. Best Brazilian scorer
was Vicente Pires with seven goals.
Statements
after the game:
Javier Cuesta,
coach Brazil: “I am very satisfied – not only with the result, but even more
with the way we played. We came here to compete and learn and to do the best we
can. We were highly motivated after the two defeats.”
Vicente Pires,
player Brazil: “I am satisfied with the work we did in Sweden, we came here to
show a good performance and we are happy with our first victory.”
Kiril Lazarov,
player FYR Macedonia: “We played very bad, so we have to congratulate Brazil,
they were the better team with really good players.”
Photos taken by Viktor Ljungström