South American side Brazil made it four wins out of five in preliminary group C at the 2019 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship in Spain to finish behind Croatia and set up a clash against Norway in the eighth-finals.

GROUP C
Hungary vs Brazil 25:31 (9:14)

Somewhat unbelievably, just two goals were scored in nearly the first 10 minutes of this encounter, with a Brazilian strike to make it 2:1 coming with nine and a half minutes on the clock. Stranger, was that after scoring their first goal in the third minute, Hungary did not get a second until the 17th minute and only had four in total as the game entered the last five minutes of the first half.

Their coach Janos Gyurka had let out a loud frustrated scream within those opening 10 minutes, looking at his bench and rubbing his head in exasperation as to how he was going to fix his sides’ capitulation to a vibrant, highly-motivated Brazilian side playing with freedom, skill and determination.

Lucas Santos in the Brazilian goal was one of the reasons why Hungary had little luck in front of goal early on (10 saves in total) as Gyurka’s first time out (11:15 on the clock) and then second (19th minute) did nothing to address the issues his side faced, and they went into the break 14:9 down.

Any expectation they had of a goal chase early in the second half evaporated quickly with a 4:0 run from Brazil (18:9 – 37th minute) and the South American side saw out the rest of the match easily, ending with a best player award for an ecstatic Guilherme Silva who bounced and jumped along his entire squad line on his way to collecting it – a clear, visual sign that his side are enjoying themselves.

And they have every right to as they have lost only to group winners Croatia, appearing to find it easier against their European opponents having beaten Portugal and Kosovo easily before a tight encounter against Bahrain. 

But without showing any signs of tiredness in their fifth game in seven days, Ivan Maziero will be looking at his team and wondering just how far they can go at Spain 2019 in an already exciting campaign so far.

Best Player of the Match: Guilherme Silva (BRA)