Will Turkey be the second nation to qualify for the second phase of the EHF EURO 2024 qualifiers? On Wednesday, in Istanbul, they took a clear seven-goal victory in the first leg of their relegation round tie against Cyprus.
Cyprus were never in a position to resist, as Turkey took the upper hand from the start and kept playing seriously for 60 minutes to earn an important win.
RELEGATION ROUND
Turkey vs Cyprus 35:28 (17:14)
- after taking the lead almost immediately, Turkey enjoyed a six-goal advantage 10 minutes into the game
- while Cyprus came back to within three at the break, Turkey regained the momentum when both teams returned to the court and increased their advantage to seven goals in the 58th minute (34:27)
- the best scorer of the game was Christos Argyrou, who netted 11 times for Cyprus, while Samet Kanberoglu scored eight for Turkey
- both teams will meet again on Saturday in Nicosia for the second leg
The importance of a good start
The whole game might have been completely different for Cyprus if they had made a better start, but struggling offensively and scoring only once in the first nine minutes was a recipe for disaster for them.
Samet Kanberoglu made the most of the opportunity, scoring four times in the first 10 minutes to help his team take the upper hand and cruise away to victory.
