IKF U21 EKC day 2

The second day started with very close and emotional match, Belgium vs England. The English team performed above expectations and spectators in the sports hall saw a really great game. The Belgians seemed to have left their guns in the hotel and needed a kind of luck in winning the match by a narrow margin – 13-12 after a 6-5 half time score.

The second match brought together the teams of Hungary and Turkey. In the first minute of the match there were three goals and the audience was looking forward to a big fire fight. However, the powder keg of goals didn’t explode. However, we got to half time with the score quite close – 8-7 but Hungary turned the score in their favour in the second half wining this stormy game 16-13.

For the Czech audience the most attractive game was the third game in which hosts clashed with rivals from Germany. It took a long time before the first goal was scored by the Czechs but within 10 minutes the Germans built up a three goal lead and held this until half time – 6-9. The Czech players and supporters seemed often surprised with decisions of the referee, so the atmosphere in sport hall became almost explosive. Confrontation between the Czech players and the referee continued in the second half, culminating with yellow cards for Jan Simek and Denisa Kolarova. The Czechs tried hard, keeping within one goal, but in the end failed to overcome the German defence. The match was ended 14-11 for Germany.

For the fourth game of the day we had Catalonia and Russia. The Catalans did not pass well in the first half which led to an increase in goals for the Russian side. Half-time was reached with a score of 7-11 in favour of Russia. In the second half the Catalan coach changed several players, which proved to be a good move, bringing the scores level at 14-14, and at the end of normal time the scores were still level at 19-19. This led to the second match to be decided by a Golden Goal, with the Catalans having lost the day before by this manner. Catalonia scored from first attack and Russian failed to reply in their attack, even getting yellow card for Sergey Glazkov, leaving the final score 20-19 in Catalonia’s favour.

The last match of the day was the Netherlands against Portugal. The Dutch team started quickly and with accurate shots from almost any point on the field took lead, which in the first half increased to 14-6. In the beginning of second half the Dutch coach replaced a whole quartet of players, which brought even faster korfball and more quality shooting opportunities. Portugal also managed to add a few more goals and the match ended with the score 32-13 in favour of the Dutch.