Hungary and Denmark make crucial steps towards Poland 2016

ROUND REVIEW 1: The favourites take home the victories in Thursday's EHF EURO 2016 Qualification matches, while Dmitrii Torgovanov fails in his debut as Russian head coach

Courtesy of their clear away wins on Thursday, Denmark and Hungary are already close to booking their tickets for the EHF EURO 2016 in Poland.

Both teams have the maximum of six points on their accounts, and both need only one more win in the three remaining matches to qualify for the event in January.

Portugal took their first win in the qualification with a victory against Ukraine.

Group 2: Belarus vs. Denmark 27:36 (12:17)

EHF EURO 2014 hosts Denmark made a huge step towards the next EURO event.

Following their third clear win in this qualification campaign, they can walk through the gate to Poland already on Sunday when they play the re-match against Belarus.

A strong defence and some very efficient shooters such as Casper Mortensen (nine goals), Mads Christiansen and Mikkel Hansen (six goals each) saw them keeping full control against Belarus throughout the entire 60 minutes.

By half-time the 2008 and 2012 EHF EURO champions had forged ahead to a five-goal lead (12:17), and even though the hosts tried hard to come back, the Danish goals kept coming and granted the squad a 16:24-lead after 36 minutes of play.

Playing with one man more on the court, Denmark increased the gap to ten goals for the first time at 32:22 with eleven minutes left on the clock.

After this clear home defeat Belarus stay on three points, and a close race against Bosnia-Herzegovina for the second position in this group can be expected.

Group 5: Ukraine vs. Portugal 26:32 (12:17)

Following defeats against Russia and Hungary in Rounds 1 and 2, Portugal took their first win in this qualification.

The away team was the dominant force throughout the entire match, while Ukraine was not able to make up for the absence of key players such as Sergej Onufryenko.

Even seven goals from seven attempts of Dmtryo Tiutiunnik were not enough to stand a chance against Portugal – the only lead Ukraine enjoyed was when they scored the games's first goal.

Only twelve minutes later Portugal had run away 7:2, a lead they extended soon after to 11:4.

Even though Ukraine reduced the deficit to 18:21 and eventually to 24:26, they were never really able to threaten Portugal.

Pedro Portela (ten goals) and Gilberto Duarte (seven goals) were unstoppable, and eventually thre consecuitve goals by Duarte, Spinola and Antunes which brought the score to 29:24 in Portugal's favour decided the encounter.

Group 5: Russia vs. Hungary 23:27 (8:15)

Hungary coach Talant Dujshebaev has clashed the hopes of new Russian coaching duo Dmitrii Torgovanov and Lev Voronin for a successful debut, as Hungary took home the two points from Chekhov in what marked the first Russian defeat in this qualification campaign.

Hungary took their third win in their third qualifier and are on the best way to Poland 2016 after they had missed the qualification to the World Championship 2015 in Qatar earlier this year.

While the Russian side had severe problems in their attack play during the first 45 minutes, already all Hungarian court players except defence specialist Timuszin Schuch had scored until the break.

The hosts were hit hard by an extremely weak start, and after only seven minutes they needed to use their first timeout when they trailed 1:6.

The Hungarian defence enjoyed a brilliant day and managed to avoid the Russian counter attacks, while they initiated fast-break goals on the other end of the court.

Russia did not recover from their start until the half-time break when they were trailing by seven goals at 8:15.

And nothing changed in the initial stages of the second half: While the hosts needed 39 minutes to score their tenth goal, Hungary were already on the winners’ track when they led 18:10.

But having a clear win ahead of them, Dujshebaev's players suddenly lacked focus and concentration as they allowed the Russians to reduce the gap to 18:20 in the 51st minute.

For some minutes the match was on the edge, but when Hungary's Richard Bodo scored to bring the score to 26:21 in his team's favour the deal was sealed.

Best scorers were Daniil Shishkarev (six goals for Russia) and Gabor Czaszar (five for Hungary).