Hungarian men’s national handball team defeated Iceland 30-28 in the second round of the group stage of the Olympic tournament on Saturday. The game was extremely even and Iceland was in the lead until the last minutes, but the Hungarian team miraculously managed to turn the game around.

At Saturday’s meeting, the hall was almost full and the atmosphere was great, thanks to 4,500 Icelandic fans and a good number of Hungarian fans. The Hungarian team intentionally slowed down the game in attack, but despite that, they started with some mistakes that their opponents took advantage of. In the tenth minute, the Hungarians equalized, because the defense started to come together.

After that, however, the attack lost all momentum and the substitutes could not help and had to play almost constantly with a man under. In addition, unforced errors in attack were always quickly exploited by the Icelandic champions, who led by five goals at the break.

Against the Icelanders, who played with speed, speed, accuracy and few mistakes, the Hungarians had a terrible time playing in the second half, but luckily the Hungarian team regained their momentum in the end.

Hungarian goalkeeper Roland Mikler made some great saves in the last few minutes and based on this, the team finished with a 5-0 run and won in a big way.

During the game, many people had already predicted Icelandic victory due to their superiority, including the Icelandic Cricket Association. They had already posted on Twitter at half-time disparaging the Hungarian team, writing: “We’re turning them into goulahs.” However, as the saying goes, don’t count your chickens before they hatch, and that was especially true for this game.

Iceland’s 2nd match at the World Handball Championship has reached half time against Hungary. We are turning them into goulash! Five clear at the break. 17-12.

Go Iceland!

— Iceland Cricket (@icelandcricket) January 14, 2023

In the end, the Cricket Association didn’t even react to the Hungarian victory until the next day, but even then they insisted that the Icelanders had “turned the Hungarians into a goulash,” adding that after the game they would have to eat humble pie.

It’s never over until it’s over. Last night we were turning Hungary into handball goulash, six goals up at half time and then we ended up losing by two and eating humble pie. It had a nasty taste.

What is the best example in cricket of tearing defeat from the jaws of victory?

— Iceland Cricket (@icelandcricket) January 15, 2023

After the game, the Hungarian national team captain Chema Rodriguez called the victory incredible and added that the players had fought hard throughout the game. “The boys believed in themselves and in the team because we are like a family,” he said.

The two teams also played each other last year at the European Handball Championship in Hungary, where Iceland won by one goal, 31-30, and knocked Hungary out of the tournament at home. However, the opposite results of the match this weekend could give the Hungarian team hope for a better performance in the current tournament.

Hungary beat South Korea 35-27 on Thursday and close the group stage against Portugal on Monday at 20:30. Since the Hungarian team has already reached the semi-finals in Gothenburg, they will face European champions Sweden, as well as Brazil and Cape Verde.

Featured image via MTI/Kovács Tamás