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Group E: Can Austria push through to main round?

18 Jan. 2021

Group E: Can Austria push through to main round?

Norway, Switzerland, and Austria all enter the final day of Group E with main round qualification – and points – at stake, joining group leaders France, who are already through having won both of their games.
 
A point or more for the Swiss will see them progress, but should France beat their fellow Alpine nation, it will give hope to the third Group E Alpine nation, Austria.
 
Austria will then know what their task is: win against Norway, or it will be the President’s Cup. A win will mean they join their Scandinavian opponents and Switzerland on two points, but will qualify through at the Swiss expense, thanks to a better goal difference. 
 
France vs Switzerland 19:00 CAT
 
“I never like to lose games, but I’ve rarely lost a game by six goals and been happy the way my guys have performed,” said Switzerland coach Michael Suter after his side were on the wrong end of 11 Sander Sagosen goals and a 31:25 scoreline against Norway last time out.
 
“We played one of the three best teams in the world…and now we’re really looking forward to France.”
 
Suter and Switzerland know if they avoid defeat against the French, they will be through to the main round – unimaginable last week when the players were sitting at home ahead of their replacement call-up. A loss will leave them nervous and hoping Austria fail to beat Norway in the following match.
 
For the unbeaten French, they will be looking for the extra two points to take into the main round, assuming the Swiss will go through, with French coach Guillaume Gille telling the French Handball Federation website, “step-by-step, we are plotting our way in this world championship. A victory would allow us into the main round with the maximum number of points and our objective is to put us in the best conditions to start this complicated group of the next round and to consider the quarter-finals.”
 
Depending which country you speak to – both say 36 wins, but France say 28 losses and Switzerland say 24 – the history favours the French, put into perspective when you have to back to 1993 for the last time Switzerland beat France, at the IHF Men’s World Championship in Sweden (26:24).
 
Since then, the Swiss have lost the last 13, most recently in their 2016 European Championship qualifier in France, back in June 2015 (23:31).
 
Norway vs Austria 21:30 CAT
 
The Austrian Handball Federation website has billed this game as ‘another final’ after Norway, again, are standing in their path to progression, following the same scenario at the 2018 Men’s European Championship (39:28) and last IHF Men’s World Championship, in 2019 (34:24).
 
“We improved significantly against France compared to the game against Switzerland,” said Austria coach Ales Pajovic. “But Sander Sagosen is in top form, they play a strong first and second wave, are individually top, so it will be difficult to look for points.”
 
The task is huge, but if France defeat Switzerland it could give extra motivation to the Austrians, who are still reeling from the late replacement of the USA by Switzerland, who subsequently beat them.
 
And they face an on fire Sagosen who has scored 21 goals in two games. However, despite his goals, they lost their opening match against France with coach Christian Berge concerned about their attack, their subsequent clash against Switzerland going some way to fix it.
 
“It was a better game than against France,” said Berge about the Swiss victory. “We had much more offensive flow and more speed, so that was a step in the right direction. I’m pretty satisfied and we are on our way to something better than we did last time.”
 
Norway have beaten Austria 25 times in their previous 37 matches.