Crazy handball thriller

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(Bild: GEPA)

Austria's national handball team narrowly missed out on a win against North Macedonia at the World Championships. In the last second of the game, Ales Pajovic's team conceded the decisive goal to make it 29:29.

Austria's handball men suffered a minor setback at the start of the World Championship main round. On Tuesday afternoon in Varazdin, the understrength team conceded a last-second equalizer against North Macedonia in a 29:29 (14:13) draw. However, the ÖHB team's quarter-final dream is still alive. Victories on Thursday (20:30) against Hungary and on Saturday (15:30) against the Netherlands are probably a must.

Later on Tuesday, the Netherlands (2 points) face Qatar (0) at 18:00 and Hungary (3) face France (4) at 20:30 in main round group 2.

Before that, things did not get heated, at least in the stands this time. Only around a tenth of the 5,200-strong hall was filled, mainly by Macedonian fans. They drummed their team into an early 3:1 lead (5th), while Austria struggled. Without Bilyk, Janko Bozovic and Boris Zivkovic, the back line once again posed too little danger and the wings did not get a chance at all. Macedonia's goalkeeper was also on the spot several times.

Narrow lead at the break
The opponents twice pulled three goals ahead (4:7/16th and 7:10/22nd), but Red-White-Red did not allow themselves to be shaken off despite all the spasms. Not least Nemanja Belos contributed important goals in these difficult phases. Tobias Wagner even managed to take the lead for the first time shortly before the break with one of the few goals from the circle to make it 12:11, and the switch to a 7:6 superior numbers game also bore fruit in this phase. A last-second shot from Lukas Hutecek finally gave Austria a 14:13 lead at the break.

Lukas Hutecek

(Bild: GEPA)

After the restart, the score remained 7:6 until the end. It got off to an ideal start at 15:13, with Wagner missing the chance to make it +3 for the first time after a save by Constantin Möstl in the circle (34'). Five minutes and a number of missed opportunities later, North Macedonia took revenge and went 18:17 in front again (41').

Decision at the last second
The game of patience then swung back and forth, with both teams level right up to the end. A seven-meter penalty saved by Florian Kaiper one-and-a-half minutes before the end was important. Eric Damböck converted the penalty at the other end and Austria went into the final 40 seconds with possession at 28:28. Hutecek took heart and scored the seemingly decisive goal five seconds before the final whistle. In the final action, Filip Kuzmanovski was on hand and the ball slipped over Kaiper's hand and into the goal.