After taking an early five-goal lead, Hungary found themselves behind in the closing 10 minutes, but their attacking intent, combination play and an expert performance from line player Bence Banhidi, which saw him scoop the player of the match, saw them consign Germany to their first defeat in a preliminary round match of an IHF Men's World Championship since they lost 25:23 against Tunisia at Spain 2013.
 
The result means Hungary take four points into the main round and Germany two.
 
GROUP A
Germany vs Hungary 28:29 (14:15)
 
Since dispatching Uruguay on Friday (15 January) in their opener, Alfred Gislason’s Germany had the longest wait of the 32 teams at Egypt 2021 between their first and second games, with their match against Cape Verde on Sunday cancelled.
 
Facing Hungary today in the clash for main round points, he made a number of changes, most notably bringing in Andreas Wolff for his first Egyptian experience and right wing Patrick Groetzki, who was cleared to play after passing the COVID-19 Protocol, having flown in over the weekend to replace the injured Tobias Reichmann.
 
Reichmann was watching from the spectator seats as Hungary opened up a two-goal lead (7:5) in the 14th minute which was doubled to four (10:6) just a few minutes later as Germany hit the post and turned over the ball.
 
This prompted Gislason to an early time out (17th minute), but Istvan Gulyas’ side, with captain Roland Mikler returning to the 16 after missing the Uruguay victory on Sunday, kept well ahead, extending their lead to five (15:10, 26th minute) and the game looked like it was already over.
 
But the end of the first half was evidence of just how much this clash – and the points in the main round – meant for the Germans. 
 
With just over a minute of the opening period left, Hungary’s Pedro Rodriquez was given the freedom of the German half on a fast-break but almost got too close to Johannes Bitter in the German goal with his shot, clipping the 2,05m player as it was saved and the 38-year-old immediately squared up to the right wing, who offered his explanation, which was half-heartedly accepted.
 
This seemed to inspire the Germans though, particularly their back court as both Julius Kuhn and Fabian Bohm, brought the score back in touch before the break (14:15) as Bitter ran to the halfway line to chest bump Bohm in acknowledgement of his last-second strike.
 
Unbelievably, Germany were still in the contest at half-time despite just two saves and some woeful accuracy in front of goal (14 from 24 shots, 58%). Marcel Schiller’s five goals were one of their few highlights.
 
The second period saw both sides trade blows but with 10 minutes remaining, the Germans went in front for just the second time of the match after they had led in the sixth minute (4:3), as Paul Drux sunk it home from nine metres (24:23).
 
This set up a tense close to the game, with Gislason an animated figure on the bench in direct contrast to Gulyas on the other side, deep in thought.
 
With five minutes remaining Dominik Mathe brought Hungary level again (26:26), sinking home a penalty shot against Wolff, brought on to stop him. But Mikler did have an effect in goal, albeit down the other end on the subsequent German attack, stopping Kai Hafner at close range to set up another Hungarian attack which Banhidi dispatched to put his side in front again (27:26).
 
Hungary’s seventh two-minute suspension then came at exactly the wrong time with Gabor Ancsin wrestling Paul Drux to the ground across the nine-metre line. Despite this, and a Gislason time out, with just over a minute remaining, Hungary kept their momentum, helped by their own time out with 30 seconds left.
 
Despite Mathe looking like he had lost control in the first phase of attack, his side got another chance with 10 seconds to play and Lekai broke through the middle of the defence to sink home to leave Gislason on his seat at the final whistle staring into what might have been.
 
“It was a tight and very interesting game,” said the German coach. “I think we could have won. But in the end, we made more errors than Hungary, so congratulations to them.”
 
“If I wasn’t the head coach of Hungary, I would maybe say a draw would be well-deserved for Germany,” said Gulyas. “We had a good preparation and we started well but today we had some ups and downs throughout the game, but we had hot hearts and cold heads and therefore we could win the game.”
 
“The key to our victory was that we could fight for each other, even in the moments when Germany took the lead,” added Banhidi. “We were well-disciplined both in attack and defence, so we have to keep this way for the main round.”
 
Both sides now move from Giza to the New Administrative Capital where they will face Brazil, Spain, and Poland.
 
hummel Player of the Match: Bence Banhidi, Hungary