In the second round of the first phase of the World Championship 2017 Qualification Slovakia beat Kosovo 38:20.
The Slovakian
national team recorded first two points in the qualifiers for the World Championship in France. Slovakians lead an incomplete Group 1 table getting ahead of Bosnia Herzegovina and Lithuania, which also earned two points in their first games. Lithuania host Bosnia on Sunday 8 November in Kaunas.
After unlucky defeat by four goals in Bosnia the Slovakian national team desperately needed to win over Group 1 outsiders in Hlohovec, Slovakia. Slovakia dominated the game from the early beginning. They relied on an excellent goalkeeper of German Rhein-Neckar Löwen Richard Stochl. The Slovak offense was led by outstanding wingers Tomas Urban with 10 goals and Radoslav Antl with 7 goals, who caused the biggest problems to the Kosovo defence. Slovakia controlled the entire game and gradually extended the score to the final 18 goal difference.
The coach of the Slovakian national team Martin Liptak was satisfied with the result and attitude of players to this important game: “We managed to play very good match, although Kosovo do not reach the level of our team. We obtained a convincing victory. I would have been really sorry if we had won only by 5 goal difference. This is a clear result and all the players enjoyed the game. I am satisfied with the result, attitude of players and atmosphere in the stands.”
The Slovakian national team coach Martin Liptak hopes his players will be lucky to avoid any injuries in the following weeks and he will have the whole team available for the next qualifiers in January 2016: “The players are going to have a very demanding schedule. SEHA League, the Champions League, German Bundesliga, Hungarian League, Slovakian League and others will continue. Until 3 January they have to play a lot of games. I believe no one will get injured. We have some other options of nomination. We count with Rabek, Kopco, Hruscak. November qualifiers are a quite good basis for January. We certainly did not want to lose by 4 goals in Bosnia. We did not deserve to lose by such a goal difference in the match that was totally close for 55 minutes. Overall I am satisfied with one week work of the national team.”
The captain of the Slovakian national team Radoslav Antl was the leader of Slovakian offense in the match vs Kosovo once again. In two opening qualifiers Antl scored 15 goals. An experienced winger of the Slovakian champions Tatran Presov was happy that the Slovakian team delighted the home fans in Hlohovec by quality performance: “It is not really easy to win at home by 18 goals. As a team´s captain I want to thank to my teammates and coach for our attitude to the game. The spectators in the stands were satisfied and so were we.”
The elite scorer of the Slovakian national team Radoslav Antl is convinced that each next qualifier can be for any team in Group 1 the key and decisive game: “The whole qualification is still before us. Any team can stumble. It cannot be forgotten that last year Bosnia lost in Lithuania 15:19. We have to focus on each following match, to deliver the best possible performance and win.”
http://www.handball-world.com/o.red.c/home-2-0-0-0.html
PHOTO: SITA newswire (Radoslav Antl, the captain of the Slovakian national team who scored 15 goals in two opening qualifiers)
Prešov