Poland secured their second win at the 2023 IHF Men's World Championship (27:20) against Montenegro after an immense performance from goalkeeper Mateusz Kornecki, who frustrated the opponents throughout the whole 60 minutes of the match.

Main Round Group I

Montenegro vs Poland 20:27 (8:11)

With the quarter-final berths already awarded to France and Spain in this group, Poland and Montenegro were clashing in Krakow for pride and a better position in the final standings, with the co-hosts trying to avoid their worst-ever place at the IHF Men's World Championship.

As they had only one win prior to this match, Poland were backed into a corner, with their confidence as low as possible, but still got a packed Tauron Arena in Krakow to cheer for them in a match where they started as slight favourites.

But Poland still found some confidence in their tank, which was significantly boosted in the first half by an outstanding performance from goalkeeper Mateusz Kornecki, who took over the role from Adam Morawski and constantly frustrated the Montenegro attack.

Usually a team that plays fast, free-flowing handball, Montenegro entered the match against Poland. It finished the first half with a meagre 38% attacking efficiency and nine turnovers, as they even failed to score when they had two extra players on the court for 108 seconds due to Poland's suspensions.

As Kornecki saved 10 shots, Poland went ahead 11:8. Still, they received a heavy blow in the 22nd minute when their top scorer at Poland/Sweden 2023, right wing Arkadiusz Moryto, received a red card for interfering with Montenegro's left wing Miloš Vujović in mid-air.

Still, Poland had Szymon Sićko, with the left back scoring four goals in the first half to lift his team to an 11:8 lead in what proved to be Poland's best defensive outing in a half in this event so far.

It went from bad to worse for Montenegro, who Poland outplayed in every part of the game at the start of the second half, which enabled the co-hosts to create a seven-goal gap (20:13) with 20 minutes to go, their biggest at the 2023 IHF Men's World Championship so far, sending the crowd into raptures.

But as it was the norm with Poland throughout the whole championship, nothing came easy. While Moryto's absence was not felt at the start of the second part of the match, later it became obvious that Poland were still looking for their talisman, who racked up the largest number of minutes played by the team in the competition.

Coach Patryk Rombel decided to hand the key of the attack to Ariel Pietrasik. Still, after scoring four goals, the fire started to dwindle, enabling Montenegro to come back in the game, with a 3:0 unanswered run seeing the gap falling down to four goals (20:16) and Poland failing to score for six minutes and 13 seconds.

But once again, Kornecki, the "hummel Player of the Match", took over. Delivering an immense performance, with 18 saves for a 50% saving efficiency and a goal scored after Montenegro decided to play a seven-on-six attack, the Poland goalkeeper kept his team at bay, eventually sealing a 27:20 win, their second at the 2023 IHF Men's World Championship.

Already eliminated, Poland cannot finish higher than the third place in the group and they will be favoured against the Islamic Republic of Iran on Sunday to secure another win and end the tournament on a high.

hummel Player of the Match: Mateusz Kornecki (Poland)