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Hungary made to work by Cape Verde

15 Jan. 2021

Hungary made to work by Cape Verde

Cape Verde were the second IHF Men’s World Championship debutants to appear at the Dr Hassan Sports Hall in Giza this evening as their depleted side, without coach Jose Tomas, held their own against European heavyweights Hungary, eventually losing by 12, but impressing with just 11 players.

GROUP A
Hungary vs Cape Verde 34:26 (19:14)

The well-documented COVID-19 outbreak amongst the Cape Verde team in Portugal before they travelled to Egypt meant they could only name 11 players for their historic World Championship debut and they were also without head coach, Jose Tomas, so instrumental in the recent success of the island nation.

An emotional playing of the national anthem set Cape Verde off to start and maybe their passion got the better of them with first a yellow card and then two-minute suspension shown in the first 39 seconds.

Hungary’s starting seven dominated the early proceedings, going ahead 5:0 by the fifth minute, but they were afforded their special moment in handball history when playmaker Gualther Furtado broke through seconds after to score the nation’s first-ever World Championship goal.

And this seemed to inspire the side as they came back into the game, bringing it to 4:5 in the eighth minute but were unable to equalise after Admilson Furtado was given a two-minute suspension. This woke Hungary up and they pulled ahead to a five-goal lead again (9:4, 13th minute), keeping a healthy distance up to the break (19:14).

The second half was less frantic in terms of scoring but for both sides involved it was a good, hard-fought game which sets both teams up for their next games, with Cape Verde taking on Germany and Hungary facing off against Uruguay on Sunday.

hummel Player of the Match: Gabor Ancsin, Hungary