Hungary made it two from two against back-to-back EHF EURO champions Spain on Wednesday night, as they added a 30:28 win to the 32:29 result recorded in November. With what was their fourth victory overall, Hungary now have eight points on their account and lead the EHF EURO Cup 2022 table ahead of Croatia on six points and Spain, still on two.

EHF EURO CUP
Spain vs Hungary 28:30 (15:14)

• Hungary started stronger and scored four goals before Spain added their first. The visitors reached a lead as clear as five goals, at 5:10 in the 16th minute
• after a hard-fought comeback, it was centre back Daniel Sarmiento who pulled Spain in front for the first time, at 14:13 in the 28th minute. Sarmiento was a standout for Spain together with Adrian Figueras, with six and eight goals respectively
• Hungary grabbed the advantage early in the second half, at 18:17 in the 36th minute. After that, Spain reclaimed the lead and held Hungary off until the final minutes, when the EHF EURO 2022 co-hosts came back to level for a close end to the game
• with three minutes on the clock, line player Bence Banhidi scored his eighth goal to pull Hungary in front 28:27, and they remained the leaders as the buzzer sounded
• the top scorer of the EHF EURO Cup 2022, Hungary back Dominik Mathe, added four goals to his overall tally, now at 28 — including the critical goal for 29:27 that decided the outcome

Hungary on the rise

Hungary have made no secret of their high hopes for their current squad, and the hopes are clearly warranted with the team pulling out consistently solid performances over the past couple of years — including on Wednesday night.

After a 14th-place finish at the EHF EURO 2018, Hungary were a talking point with their results at the 2020 edition and jumped up to ninth. At the World Championship 2021, Hungary ranked fifth and were unlucky to lose their quarter-final to France after extra time. 

Will the home EHF EURO 2022 be their time to shine?