Austria’s handball men have only won five of their 23 games against Iceland before they play the Scandinavians again in the first leg of the World Cup qualifying play-off in Bregenz (6 p.m. live on ORF Sport Plus). “It is certainly our most difficult qualifying task in recent years,” said ÖHB captain Nikola Bilyk about the sixth place in the European Championships in January.
“We saw at the European Championship how strong they are, Iceland was a medal candidate there,” says team manager Ales Pajovic, whose players already know exactly what to expect. “Iceland doesn’t necessarily have the big guys on the defensive, they’ll come out earlier to disrupt our game. We have to win duels, work with our pivots and runners,” Bilyk calculates that the standard 6-0 coverage is more frequent a 3:3 formation changes. The second leg follows on Saturday in Hafnarfjordur (6 p.m.).
Source: Nachrichten
