World Championship title holders Norway overcame Kim Rasmussen’s Hungary side 30:22 thanks to a star turn from Nora Mork, while Poland beat Sweden – missing Louise Sand – 33:30. In the early match, Czech Republic held strong against Argentina to win by six (28:22)

 

GROUP B

 

Czech Republic vs Argentina 28:22 (15:9)

Argentina’s Elke Josselinne Karsten opened the World Championship scoring at the EgeTrans Arena, but the Czech Republic had to wait five minutes to get off the mark when right back Michaela Hrbkova – who plays her club handball in Germany for Frisch Auf Goppingen – sunk home. At that point the South Americans were 3:1 up and when Hrbkova converted a penalty to put her side behind by one at 3:2, 11 minutes had passed by already.

 

From that point on the Czech Republic took control of the half as, led by match top-scorer Helena Rysankova (7 goals), they went into the break 15:9, extending their lead to 10 (23:13, 24:14) with less than 15 minutes remaining. Eduardo Peruchena’s Argentina side did mount a brief comeback to scare the Europeans, scoring four unanswered goals (24:18) to come within six, which resulted in a time-out from Jan Basny on the Czech bench, but those six goals would prove to be the difference in the end as the Czech team prepare to face a tough Norwegian challenge tomorrow.

 

“They were much better than us in the game and played very good in their positions,” said Argentina coach Eduardo Peruchena. “The Czech team have a lot more experience than us, but for our team – with an average age of 20-years-old, it was a good experience for them.”

 

“We knew that they would perform well, and they proved it,” said Czech coach Jan Basny about Argentina. “I hope we can improve our performances as this competition goes on.”

 

Seven-goal scorer Helena Rysankova was honest about the start her Czech side made. “The first 15 minutes were not so easy for us,” she said. “We were not concentrated, and were a little bit surprised about Argentina, even though we saw their videos and were prepared.  But we continued to play our game, our goalkeeper played well, we scored on the fast-break and we were better.”

 

“We were good the first half,” said Argentina goalkeeper Nadia Bordon. “We came close in the second half – of course, we wanted to win this game, but we came up against a good team. It was a good experience for us though as we are really young.”

 

Player of the Match presented by adidas: Helena RYSANKOVA (CZE)

 

Sweden vs Poland 30:33 (15:17)

Missing their influential left wing Louise Sand, who had bruised her ankle in training on Wednesday, Sweden fell behind for the first time against Poland in the 14th minute (9:8) as Joanna Drabik’s strike prompted a time out from Sweden coach Henrik Signell.  The 3,620 fans in the sold-out arena witnessed a real back-and-forth game as both teams took the leads at various intervals with Poland going two up (15:13) for the first time in the 26th minute – a margin they would take into half-time (17:15).

 

Leszek Krowicki’s Polish side deserved to win this encounter with a strong combination of defence – led by goalkeeper Adrianna Placzek (38% first half save rate) and attack – spearheaded by centre back Kinga Achruk (who had scored eight by the 40th minute). Poland did increase their lead to three (22:19) with 37 minutes gone, but the game was still in the balance. However, Sweden gifted three straight, unanswered, full-court goals to their opponents to seal their own fate (25:19) with a third of the match remaining. A late run from the Swedes was not enough as they could only come as close as two goals (28:26) and Poland took the victory, as they hope to go one better than their fourth-place finish at Denmark 2015.

 

“We lost this game with our defence, everyone can see that,” said Sweden coach Henrik Signell after the loss. “Poland are a very good team, especially in attack with many good shooters, but we were too passive and wide in our way of playing defence.”

 

Poland coach Leszek Krowicki was full of praise for his team getting off to the very best of starts. “I am very, very happy and pleased with the way things went today,” he said. “We fought for 60 minutes. We got an advantage in the second half with the three full court goals and then we just had to survive the rest of the match – we look forward to the next game.”

 

“In the first half we were not organised when we returned from attack,” said Sweden’s Sabina Jacobsen about the loss. “We need to play much tougher in defence tomorrow in our next game if we want to win.”

 

“We know how many powerful players Sweden has but we were focussed on our side,” said Poland’s jubliant Kinga Achruk. “We showed how tough we are in defence – we are fighters. In offence we can improve, we score goals from every position and this is the power of our team – we play together.”

 

Player of the Match presented by adidas: Kinga ACHRUK (POL)

 

Norway vs Hungary 30:22 (21:11)

The title holders mean business at Germany 2017 – a 10-goal lead had been amassed already at the 30-minute mark by Thorir Hergeirsson’s Norway and, as if to reinforce their team performance, it was captain Stine Oftedal who applied her laser-like focus and precision to smash home on the half-time buzzer for that double-figure lead at the break (21:11).

 

Hungary coach Kim Rasmussen – who led Poland to a fourth-place finish at Denmark 2015 – had tried to nullify the Norwegian threat early on by putting Audi ETO Györ’s Anita Görbicz out in front of a 5-1 defence, but her club teammate Nora Mork was irresistible as the beating heart of the Norwegians; scoring, assisting and cajoling an already super-motivated squad. The second half was a non-event as Hungary had little joy piercing the Norwegian defence.  

 

The question is: who can beat the three-time IHF Women’s World Champions in Germany?

 

“That is the reason why Norway are the best team in the world,” said Hungary coach Kim Rasmussen after the match. “They showed us today that if you don’t keep your tactics and your gameplan it is difficult to play against them. What happened in the first half I have no idea – for some reason we did everything opposite [to what we had planned].”

 

Norway coach Thorir Hergeirsson praised Hungary, but was happy with his team performance. “Hungary showed they don’t give up, but I am very pleased with our start to the game and in the first half we were very concentrated and focussed. We had maybe our best first half for a long time.”

 

“We know that if we stick together in defence we can go far,” said Norway’s Stine Skogrand in the post-match press conference. “I’m looking forward to what’s next in this championship.”

 

“I am very sorry for our first half, there was many more mistakes then there should be,” said Hungary’s Kinga Janurik. “We had a good fight in the second half, but we have 20 hours until our next match and we need to concentrate and focus on the positive things we did today.”

 

Player of the Match presented by adidas: Katrine LUNDE (NOR)