They also clearly missed the hoped-for 15th place, which would have secured the Austrians a place in the World Cup qualifying play-off this spring. But Ales Pajovic’s team still has to go into a pre-play-off.
The start went well from a red-white-red point of view, even without the defensive specialist Lukas Herburger, who left on Monday because of Corona, and the backcourt man Lukas Hutecek, who was injured in the first game. They worked up a lead of up to four goals (10:6/15th and 12:8/18th), but with a few mistakes on the offensive and a again unconvincing defense they lost the fruits of their labor until the break. As expected, it was world-class circle player Arsjom Karaljok who posed some problems for the Austrian defense.
In the minutes before the break, Pajovic had given playing time to several players who had not or hardly been used until then, when the game started again, the first team was on the field. Although she was able to set the lead to 19:17 (35th), she was unable to break away decisively. This enabled the opponent, who had to do without shooter Uladsislau Kulesch and also had many young players, to get close again. In the 45th minute, Belarus even took the lead for the first time (21:20) and didn’t let that be taken away from them. There was no real red-white-red rebellion, at the latest with 27:24 (55 th ) the game was over.
“We are disappointed. We were in good spirits, fully motivated and played well in the first half. In the second half we never managed to reach this level,” Pajovic summarized on ORF. “Unfortunately we had a difficult group. These are strong teams, also physically very strong. We have big problems there. We saw that at this tournament. We have to improve a lot,” hoped the Slovenian, but one thing was clear: “Now qualifying for the World Cup will be difficult.”
“It was a very difficult game, especially for the head. It was clear to us that it was a question of will, and in the end Belarus had more will,” was the dry conclusion of wing veteran Robert Weber, who cracked a round top mark with his 200th international match. Only the already retired Viktor Szilagyi, Andreas Dittert (203 each) and the current sports director Patrick Fölser (218) are ahead of the 36-year-old in terms of field players. The ranking is clearly led by ex-goalie Ewald Humenberger (246).
Weber said that after taking the lead in the first half, you “felt a little too safe. And Belarus’ body language seemed a bit like giving up.” Janko Bozovic, with seven goals the best ÖHB thrower that evening, saw the reason for the third defeat in the wear and tear: “Many played a lot, we didn’t change that much, you noticed that in the end.”
Before that, Germany beat Poland 30:23 in Bratislava, taking first place in the group and two points for the main round. Despite the failure of nine players who tested positive, the DHB selection created a perfect starting position for the second phase of the tournament, in which defending champions Spain, Norway, Sweden and Russia are waiting.
