IKF U21 EKC day 5 - International Korfball Federation

The fifth day had clear target – decide the final ranking of the pools. The first of these deciding matches was the game England against Germany. England started more concentrated, but Germans soon hit back and were ahead at half time 6-5. The second half was balanced until the 33rd minute when England scored three times in the row and this helped to decide the game in their favour, the game ending 18-14 in their favour. England then had to wait until the third match of the day to see if they would finish second in the pool. A win by Poland against the Czechs would place them 4th.

The Czechs started very nervously and it looked that Polish squad may well beat the Czechs, leading 3-1 after 12 minutes. A tactical change by the Czech team changed things dramatically and the Czechs went in at half time 8-4 in the lead. They kept this better level of performance until the end winning 15-7. This result made the English team very happy and Pool B ended with following ranking –

1. BELGIUM

2. ENGLAND

3. GERMANY

4. CZECH REPUBLIC

5. POLAND

In the other pool, Netherlands vs. Turkey was good learning lesson for the Turks with a clear 28-12 (16-6) win for Dutch squad.

The fourth game of the day, Portugal vs. Catalonia, decided who would finish second in pool A. The Portuguese showed their strength and didn’t give the Catalans any more space than necessary, winning each half of the match in identical scores, 10-7, making the final result 20-14 and placing Portugal in second place.

The last game of the day, Russia vs. Hungary decided the lower rankings in pool A. Russia started better and ended the first half 10-7 ahead. However, Hungary didn’t give up and turned the score round to lead 15-12. At this stage it looked like the Hungarians became satisfied and gave the Russians chances to change the score again, which they did to lead 17-15. Hungary pushed hard to 16-17 and in last minute, despite having very long attack with 8 shots, their bid for saving the game was unsuccessful, making the Russians happy to win. So Pool A ended –

1. NETHERLANDS

2. PORTUGAL

3. RUSSIA

4. CATALONIA

5. HUNGARY

6. TURKEY