Australia win big against Andorra to confirm credentials

An excellent first half on both sides of the ball saw Australia take control and never relinquish it until the end against Andorra. They sealed their second win in a row (32:19) at the 2023 IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship.

This means Australia, which have already confirmed their best finish ever in the competition, will now feature in the Placement Match 5/6, while Andorra aim to finish on a high in the Placement Match 7/8.

Placement Matches 5-8
Andorra vs Australia 19:32 (4:13)

A superb defensive effort, headlined by nine saves from goalkeeper Bjoern Svineng McCourt, lifted Australia to a nine-goal lead at the end of the first half (13:4), which proved to be unassailable, helping them seal their second win in a row at Bulgaria 2023.

The tough physical displayed by Australia in the first two games was always going to be a difficult proposition for Andorra to break, and it really enhanced Australia’s approach to the game.

It took Andorra eight minutes to score their first goal, 14 minutes for two goals and 27 minutes to score their third goal, and by that time, Australia were miles ahead, despite their 11 turnovers in attack.

The diminutive Andorra backs would always struggle against Australia. Still, the European team saw five stolen balls throughout the first half, as Australia not only had a good plan of blocking the European’s side back line, but also executing it almost to perfection.

It all resulted in Andorra scoring the lowest number of goals in the first half of this edition of the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, but also the third-lowest number in history, with the record still held by Armenia, which scored only once against the Faroe Islands at Bulgaria 2017.

But was Australia going to keep it up in the second half? The gap in class, at least for this particular game, looked huge, especially as Australia duly took advantage of every fast break chance in the first half, scoring five goals.

It was a mammoth task for Andorra, but they doubled the number of goals from the first half in only four minutes, cutting the gap to only six goals, 14:8. But Australia navigated through the difficult moment with calm and ease, taking their own 3:0 run to get back into a nine-goal lead, 17:8.

Australia tinkered with their lineup and their tactics, using a seven-on-six attack by taking out the goalkeeper and trying to see if this suited them, and the gap soared to 10 goals (25:15) with eight minutes to go in the game. As Timothy Anderson finished with seven goals, followed by captain Caleb Gahan with four goals and six assists, Australia cruised to the win, handing Andorra their worst loss at Bulgaria 2023.

Eventually, this was Australia’s best defensive performance in history at the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, conceding only 19 goals, one less than their previous record set against Armenia, in a 61:20 win at Kosovo 2015.

With their second win at Bulgaria 2023 (32:19) and their fourth in total at the IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, Australia confirmed their credentials and will be aiming to seal their third and final win on Sunday when they feature in the Placement Match 5/6.

Andorra, with their second loss in three matches, are heading to the Placement Match 7/8, but they will still be trying to end on a high, with their 10-man squad showing plenty of grit in every game played so far.

Player of the Match: Timothy Ryan Anderson (Australia)