We hope the tournament will be as cathartic as Sunday night's match was.
The Hungarian and Portuguese teams clashed for the last Olympic place in the second meeting of the qualification tournament in Tatabánya, which was also the last European Olympic qualification match, as eleven teams had already qualified for Paris by then, and in which the Hungarian men's handball team won 30-27. re defeated Portugal in the last round of the qualifiers, thus reaching the summer games after 12 years.
After two minutes of play, we already had a man advantage, the shot-shooter Salvador Salvador was sent off, after which Máté Lékai limped off the field and needed short medical treatment, but luckily the Fradi manager was back on the field after a minute.
We started the match together, we didn't miss a shot in the first fourteen minutes, we hit the goal of Gustavo Capdeville nine times out of nine, Zoltán Szita four times, Gábor Ancsin twice, and Imre Bence once and Bence Bánhidi with a defender around his neck.
Less than fifteen minutes into the match, when Chema Rodríguez changed goalkeepers, Mikler Roland only missed one shot, he was replaced by László Bartucz from Tatabánya, who played on the home field, and immediately parried the shots of Pedro Portela, then Luís Frade and Leonel Fernandes. , after which Lékai's full-court, empty-netter goal gave us a three-point lead.
After our goalkeeper's fourth save, the stands were already chanting his name.
We were already up by four, and we had the chance to gain a psychological advantage, but we got stuck in the first half, we were distracted by two attacks in a row, and the Portuguese equalized three and a half minutes before the break. Chema Rodríguez asked for time, but that didn't help either, Rui Silva's goal gave the Portuguese the lead for the first time in the match. Fortunately, the opponent's momentum came late, the half-time score was 16-16, as Bartucz blocked Rui Silva's attempt, and then Salvador Salvador's free throw overtime died in his hands, so he ended the first thirty minutes with six saves out of fourteen.
Although we shot and defended more effectively than our opponent, it was worth noting that the Portuguese managed to shoot seven times more in the first half, and while we sold seven balls, they did not.
At the beginning of the second half, during one of the Portuguese attacks on the right wing, Francisco Costa crouched down as if he had at least a gunshot wound, even though Zoltán Szita was just standing in front of him with his hands up, barely touching him, the young right winger quickly recovered. On the other side, however, more trouble happened, first Bánhidi's supporting leg turned under, the full-back remained on the ground holding his ankle, he had to be nursed on the bench, then in the next attack, Gábor Ancsin fell to the ground after injuring his knee, and the Portuguese ran away in the meantime with three goals.
While the German referees did not judge one of the Portuguese sevens as a goal after a short video, the Szeged defender was wired by the medical staff, so he was able to return to the field.
Against a wall that had been erected, however, the attacking game still did not go well for us, and we were not able to start it very well, because the Portuguese settled down very quickly. Maybe we drew strength from the fans, because it looked like we were just coming out of the pit, quarter of an hour before the end we equalized again with a goal from Gergő Fazekas, which was offset by the fact that two of our important defenders were also eliminated, because while Ancsin did not return, Adrián Sipos was substituted after another video out with a red card permanently before the start, because he hit his opponent in the face.
Máté Lékai came back at the start, our game sped up, and the team became more and more fired up, we had the advantage again, Imre Bence proved to be the winning man, he found the opponent's goal five times in eight minutes.
We even endured the fact that Bodo was sent off for two minutes and switched to full-field defense for the last minutes, but after Areira's goal, Bartucz made an amazing save, which allowed us to qualify for the Olympics. 30–27
The Hungarian national team will be there after 12 years at the five-hoop games, taking the last, 12th place.
Cover image: The Hungarian team celebrates after winning the men's handball Olympic qualifying match between Hungary and Portugal in the Tatabánya Multi-functional Hall on March 17, 2024
Source: MTI/Bodnár Boglárka
