Cyprus crush Faroe Islands' qualification dreams

Cyprus crush Faroe Islands' qualification dreams

Cyprus have made a huge step towards the second phase of the EHF EURO 2020 Qualification, beating Faroe Islands 20:19 (8:9) in the opener of the Group A tournament in the first phase of the qualification on Friday night.

Man of the match was Cyprus centre back Julios Argyrou who scored eight goals for his team. 

If Cyprus beat Greece on Saturday, they will already be certain of a spot in the second phase of the EHF EURO 2020 Qualification as only the group winner advances.

For Faroe Islands, who play Greece on Sunday, a Greek win is the only option to stay in contention for the group's top rank.

Argyrou and Argyrou make the difference

A penalty converted by Argyrou granted Cyrprus their first two-goal lead at 5:3 in the 14th minute in what was overall a very low-scoring match - both teams seemed to know that every mistake would cost them dearly. 

The Faroe Islands bounced back towards the end of the first half and a buzzerbeater by Niclas Selvig granted them with a 9:8 lead at the break which Tony Hammer Weyhe and Hans Eli Sigurbjörnsson even extending the lead to 11:8 by the 34th minute.

However, Cyprus quickly responded and another Argyrou penalty - Cyprus converted all five, while the Faroe Islands failed two from two times from the penalty line - levelled the score at 12:12 with 22 minutes left to play.

With four minutes to go the score was still square at 19:19, but at 58:16 Cyprus' second Argyrou, Christos, scored the final goal of the game which handed Cyprus the victory in this EHF EURO 2020 qualifier.

Cyprus will now face Greece on Saturday at 18:00 local Faroe Islands time, while the tournament hosts can lick their wounds before they return to the court for the group's final match on Sunday, Faroe Islands against Greece.

For both matches the EHF Live Ticker will be available.