Heavy Defeat Against France at Handball World Championship

The Hungarian men’s handball team lost 37-30 to defending European champions France in the first round of the World Championship semifinals in Varazdin, Croatia, Tuesday evening. The Hungarian team did not take the lead once in the match.

The game was decided in the first ten minutes as the Hungarians made a lot of mistakes in attack and the French took advantage of this by shooting into the empty net. The captain tried time-outs and substitutions, but to no avail. The opponents had six more shots on goal in the first half, two less mistakes and led 23-15 at the break.

The Hungarian men’s national team has never before received 23 goals in a halftime.

By the 35th minute, the difference was ten goals, even though Hungary’s defense has been a constant in the World Cup so far.

France continued to press their dominant attacks, often substituting four instead of one or two between attack and defense. Sometimes the opponents even “showed mercy:” after intercepting the ball they did not shoot immediately, but waited until the Hungarian goalkeeper was back in front of his net.

Hungary’s goalkeeper Roland Mikler, France’s Julien Bos, and Zoltán Szita (L-R). Photo: MTI/Illyés Tibor

After the Hungarian team reduced the gap slightly, they finally remained ten goals down.

Roland Mikler finished with three saves and Kristóf Palasics with ten. Máté Lékai scored five goals, while on the other side, Dika Mem was the highest scorer for his team with six goals, and Rémi Desbonnet contributed 15 saves. Hungary’s team did not lead once in the whole match.

Photo: MTI/Illyés Tibor

“The problem was that we did not arrive for this match.

I am very dissatisfied, mainly because of the attitude,”

said Hungary’s national team coach Chema Rodríguez after the match.

He added that he always says it does not matter what the result is, as long as his team gives 100 percent. “If we do not give our all, especially against a team like France, this is what we will end up with. The result is not that bad, as the whole picture of the match shows that we could have lost by much more,” the Spanish coach concluded.

The Hungarians – who are aiming to reach the quarterfinals – finished the group stage top of the table with two wins and a draw, and will face Austria in the semifinals on Thursday at 8:30 a.m., then Qatar on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. The top two finishers will progress to the last eight. Hungary is currently placed third.

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