Istvan Gulyas’ side eased to a 26-goal victory against IHF Men’s World Championship debutants Uruguay and with it, made it two wins from two and a place in the main round.
 
GROUP A
Hungary vs Uruguay 44:18 (16:8)
 
Both sides made four changes going into this game, with Hungarian captain and goalkeeper Roland Mikler missing from their squad of 16, and MOL-Pick Szeged left back Richard Bodo getting his Egypt 2021 campaign underway after missing their opener against Cape Verde to attend the birth of his second child.
 
Gulyas, with a background in beach handball, would have been familiar with a number of the Uruguayan players, who also represent their country on sand, but he would have been disappointed with the lack of concentration from his own side in the first 30 minutes which saw the teams go in with just eight goals separating them (16:8), as Uruguay outscored the European side in the last 13 minutes of the opening period.
 
Uruguay’s half-time scoring total was double that of what they managed against Germany in their opening match and Gulyas subsequently brought on Stefan Sunajko, Peter Hornyak and Adam Borbely for their first action of the day and they helped their side score 28 goals in a dominant second half.
 
A double-figure lead came just five minutes in (20:10) and that turned into 20 nine minutes from the end (35:15) as Gulyas gave at least 10 minutes court time to all 16 players with one eye on the Germany clash on Tuesday (19 January).
 
“I am happy that we won, we had a much better rhythm than against Cape Verde, so it was a progressive match for us,” said Gulyas. “We have to move forward step-by-step, but I know my 16 for Germany.”
 
“We expected to have a difficult match, but we feel good,” said Uruguay coach Jorge Botejara. “Every player played some minutes. Against Germany we had 23 turnovers, today we had 20, a few, not that much, but for us it’s a huge gain.”
 
Uruguay face Cape Verde on Tuesday with the winner gaining a main round spot.
 
hummel Player of the Match: Dominik Mathe, Hungary