Austria - Yugoslavia 23-30

Jugoslavia - the better team

By Karina Wulff Harrestrup
The team from Yugoslavia was joined by a crowd of fans in Helsinge, and they didn’t let their fans down. Yugoslavia won the game with in superior style with 30-23.

Before the game there had been great expectations to the stars of the teams – Fridrikas from Austria and Petrovic from Yugoslavia. However, neither of the two players really showed how well they can play.

From the beginning the Yugoslavian team seemed very focused on the game, especially in their defence and their goal keeper, Dragica Djuric, was brilliant with many good saves.

The two teams were quite even till they reached 4-4. Then the Yugoslavians pulled away and after some fantastic fast breaks they lead the game with 9-4. After that the Austrians never really recovered. Not even Fridrikas was able to score and therefore she was taken out of the game by Ole Eliasen, the Austrian coach.

Ole Eliasen seemed very frustrated and he couldn’t keep his anger inside. The incident made the two Greek referees show Eliasen the yellow card. Shortly after that the Austrian coach had a time out when Yugoslavia was leading 11-6. It seemed to be a good decision because Austria did get a couple of goals just after the time out and the reduced the leap between the two teams to 12-9. However, it didn’t last. The Yugoslavians had some good attacks and by half time the score was 15-9 with Yugoslavia leading the game.

In the second half the game continued the same way. The Yugoslavian team were superior to the Austrian. They had many superb passes and fast breaks. Seven minutes into the second half Fridrikas was sent back into the game. She did play much better than in the first half and did score seven goals altogether for Austria. Stephanie Ofenböck was the best player on the Austrian team. She kept on fighting and ended up scoring six goals.

Austria made many mistakes in the second half and their opponents took advantage of the Austrian frustration. They were able to produce many fast breaks and it was especially Tanja Milanovic and Snezana Damjanac who were the quick players. The Yugoslavian audience were cheering loudly with every single goal and the atmosphere was fantastic. They knew they were winning the game and with three minutes to go and Yugoslavia leading 29-21 they all started singing “auf wiedersehen” to the Austrian team. They were all happy when they heard the final whistle and the game ended 30-23.