By defeating Austria, Brazil maintained their perfect record at the World Championship and with six points, they now have a very good opportunity to reach the quarter-finals. In turn, the Austria side remain on zero points and have no realistic chance of progressing to the next stage. 

MAIN ROUND IV
Brazil vs Austria 38:31 (15:15)

The South American team, who had won all three games in the previous round, were considered favourites against Austria, whose potential had been seriously damaged by the COVID-19 problems at Spain 2021. 

Brazil's goalkeeper Barbara Arenhart was the heroine of the early minutes, as she not only recorded some superb saves, but also scored twice in a row from the own half into an empty goal as Austria resorted to a 7 vs 6 game.

For a while, Arenhart was even Brazil's joint top scorer, and her team pulled away to a commanding 12:5 lead in minute 15. 

However, then the character of the game changed, since Brazil started to miss too many shots and scored only three goals in the remaining part of the first half. 

Despite their never-ending woes, Austria certainly do not lack fighting spirit, and they punished their opponents for the mistakes to draw level before half-time.

Brazil needed a break to get back on track, and they regained control of the match soon after the restart, switching the defence to 5-1. As their rivals stuck to 7 vs 6 throughout the match, the South Americans scored into an empty goal time after time.

Arenhart also added a third goal to her tally before being replaced by Renata Arruda and, shortly after that, Brazil used a 4:0 run to create a 31:23 advantage.

The deal was sealed, and with their free-flowing attack, Brazil went on to clinch a confident victory. Their 38 goals were distributed between 13 players, with Tamires Araujo – hummel Player of the Match – becoming the team’s top scorer with six goals. 

For Austria, Patricia Kovacs and Ines Ivancok netted eight times each. Yet, their impact was of little help as the European team suffered their third straight defeat in the competition. 

In the next match on Friday, Brazil will play a South American derby against Argentina, while Austria are scheduled to meet Japan. 

hummel Player of the Match: Tamires Araujo, Brazil

Photo: RFEBM / J. L. Recio