Spain seal historic win against Hungary to make it to the final at China 2024

Limiting one of the best attacks in the competition, which had previously scored over 30 goals per match, to only 16 goals, Spain secured their maiden berth for the final of the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, with a fantastic 19:16 win over Hungary, in the lowest-scoring semi-final in the history of the competition.

SEMI-FINAL
Hungary vs Spain 16:19 (7:12)

One year ago, Spain were playing against the likes of Lithuania, Greece or Luxembourg in the W17 EHF Championship 2023, the second division in the pyramid of the European younger age categories competitions.

Now, the ascension to greatness has been unprecedented, as a team which did not make it between the top 16 European sides one year ago is a finalist at the 2024 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, winning the battle between the last unbeaten teams in the competition against Hungary.

Spain have it all, but their main weapon is a fantastic defence, which can win games by itself. Add some strong starts in the matches they feature in and you have a great recipe for wins. It happened in the match against Japan, in the quarter-finals, where Spain went on a 11:3 start and never looked back.

But against Hungary, a good start is not enough. Luckily for Spain, they extended their good start throughout the first half, but limiting Hungary – the third best attack in the competition, with an average of 31.3 goals scored per match - to only three goals in the first 18 minutes was a really fantastic performance in itself.

Spain did that by forcing eight turnovers, and forcing Hungary to shoot from difficult situations – a 37% shooting efficiency is hardly something that can win a semi-final at the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship. And then, at the end of the first half, Spain also delivered a big blow, when Judit Gonzalez Martinez converted a free throw after the final whistle, to create a 12:7 lead.

By the 34th minute, when Hungary had cut the gap to only three goals, Spain were still controlling the match, especially as Hungary had only three players on the scoresheet, with Noémi Petra Kacsó leading the way with four goals, followed by the top goal scorer of the competition, Virág Fazekas, with three goals.

Hungary beefed up their defence in the second half, cut the gap to only two goals, but their attack simply could not deliver the needed goods in crucial moments, when they could have cut the gap to a single goal and exert a big pressure on Spain. While the two team traded erorrs, it was still Spain which were up by four goals, 17:13, with 10 minutes to go.

But the first semi-final showed that anything might happen in the closing minutes of such a match. Yet Hungary failed to mount a challenge, with too many mistakes in their attack causing Spain to keep the gap under wraps and eventually deliver a fantastic 19:16 win, their seventh consecutive at China 2024. The hero for Spain, at least in defence, was goalkeeper Goundo Gassama Cissokho, who had 13 saves, for an outstanding 48% saving efficiency.

This was also the lowest-scoring semi-final in the history of the competition, beating the record of 40 goals set by Norway and France in 2010, with Spain extending their winning run to seven matches and setting up a clash against Denmark in the final, their maiden last act in history.

On the other hand, Hungary will play against France in the bronze medal match, missing once again the chance to secure the gold medal, the only one missing at this age level.