Swedish last-second goal ends Serbia’s hopes

Four matches, four thrillers – this is what handball fans in Lithuania, Serbia, Italy and Switzerland saw on Thurday night in the Women’s EHF EURO 2014 qualification as all matches were decided in the very last minute.

The thriller with the highest tension occurred in Serbia where the hosts gave a four-goal lead from their hands to tie with Sweden.

They therefore remain behind Slovenia, who won at Switzerland, in Group 5. Austria and Turkey won their also hotly contested encounters.

Round 4 starts on Saturday and concludes on Sunday with the reverse fixtures of Wednesday’s and Thurday’s encounters.

Group 1: Lithuania vs. Austria 28:31 (13:13)

Austrian head coach Herbert Müller had warned his team of the strong Lithuanians, but his players needed a long time to understand the true meaning of his words.

After a 7:4 lead at the beginning the Austrians missed to many chances and the hosts – led by the brilliant Laima Barnataviciute (eight goals) - first equalised, then took the lead.

At the break the result was even, before the Lithuanians enjoyed their strongest period and forged ahead to 18:15 in the 35th minute.

It was a timeout that woke up the Austrians. Backed by the saves of Melanie Herrmann and the twelve goals of top scorer Beate Scheffknecht they turned the match around at 25:24, and when Ramona Grausenburger netted to make it 29:25, the resistance of the bravely fighting Baltic team was broken.

"If we had taken all our initial chances for serious, we could have led 9:1, but we failed too often against the strong Lithuanian goalkeepers," Müller said. “But in the second have my players showed a great will to win."

With four points on their account Austria are equal with Denmark at the moment, while Lithuania still have zero points.

Group 4: Italy vs. Turkey 21:22 (11:13)

Yasemin Sahin was the match winner for Turkey, granting her team the first points in this qualification by a penalty goal.

Italy remain on zero points, while Turkeys can add another victory on home court on Saturday to their tally which would keep them within reach of leading teams Netherlands and Spain in Group 4.

The match was fully open throughout the entire 60 minutes, and the starting period was like a roller coaster ride: Italy were ahead by 5:2, before Turkey scored a 7:0 series and kept a small advantage until the break.

In the second half the tides turned again, as now Italy had the upper hand. When overall top scorer Cristina Gheorghe (nine goals) hit the net to make it 21:18 ten minutes before the end, the Italians hoped for their first win.

But the hosts lost all their luck in attack, Turkey did not surrender for any second – and scored the last four goals of this match, finishing this final catch-up chase with the overall victory.

Group 5: Serbia vs. Sweden 25:25 (14:14)

Serbia are under pressure in Group 5: With only three points from three matches, the World Championship 2013 runners-up are on only ranked third behind Sweden and Slovenia.

And they have the tough re-match at Kristianstad ahead, in which Sweden already can clinch their berth for the EHF EURO 2014.

The first half saw an outstanding for Sanja Damnjanovic, who scored ten of in total 14 Serbian goals, but Sweden were tough opponents throughout the entire match.

Their even dangerous counter attacks were the key why the first 30 minutes of a full speed match with constantly changing leads were absolutely equal.

Both teams started the second half nervously, the initial stage was marked by a huge number of technical mistakes and turnovers. Sweden had found the means to tame Damnjanovic, but  other players such as Katarina Krpez assumed the responsibility.

But as they were working and fighting like a true team, led by top scorer Linnea Torstensson (seven goals), Sweden did not get cast off by the hosts in Kraguevac.

The biggest gap in the second half was a Serbian four-goal lead at 20:16, but only some minutes later the advantage had melted to only one goal.

Ten minutes before the end, when Damnjanovic had scored her first goal after the break, the winners’ way could have been paved for the Serbians at 24:21 – but then Sweden returned to the match with a triple strike by Ulrika Agren, equalising four minutes before the final buzzer.

Sweden had the chance to take the lead in crunch time, but missed twice. So who else then current World Handball Player of the Year, Andrea Lekic, hit the net for 25:24 – but still more than two minutes were left on the clock.

30 seconds before the end Serbian coach Sasa Boskovic took a timeout, but his team gave the ball from its hands. 12 seconds to play – Swedish timeout. And right with the final buzzer Torstensson ended the Serbian hopes and made Sweden dance.

Switzerland vs. Slovenia 22:24 (13:14)

The return of Slovenian coach Marta Bon to her former team was much harder than expected.

After beating Serbia in November, Slovenia were the favourites, but Switzerland stood strong in defence and rarely allowed their opponents to score.

However, despite nine goals of Katrin Weigelt, Switzerland remain on zero points after this highly unlucky 22:24 defeat against Slovenia, who maintained second position with four points now.

The hosts had levelled an intermediate three-goal backlog at 10:10 and even took the lead at 11:10 before the break – and from that moment on both sides played on one level.

The lead changed constantly, and both teams had enormous problems in attack, proven by eight goal-less minutes in the middle of the second half at 16:16.

But then it took only four minutes until the match was virtually decided: Slovenia scored a series of five straight goals to make it 21:16 – but still Switzerland had not been beaten, as they fought for every ball.

So it took until the 59th minute when Alja Koren made her teammates sigh of relief as scored her fifth goal to make it 24:21.