Serbia change defence tactics for Men's 20 EHF EURO

The Serbian junior national team is entering the final phase of its preparation for the Men’s 20 EHF EURO 2014 with high ambitions.

The young Serbian ‘Eagles’ have recently won test matches against Slovakia 31:21 and against FYR Macedonia 33:21 and are now looking to forward to the start of their campaign on 24 July which will see them facing Denmark, Switzerland and Estonia in Group B.

"Most of the players began the preparation in a good shape physically. They received some tasks for the after-season break and they accomplished them well," says Serbian head coach Aleksandar Brkovic.

"We worked a lot on tactics in the first two weeks in (our training camp) Stara Pazova. We are trying some new things in our game and I believe that we will be successful. We are moving closer to what we want to achieve."

Brkovic says that Serbia will not play the ‘standard’ 6-0 defence at the EHF EURO in Austria.

"We want to try to reestablish the Yugoslav 3-2-1 defence. We will see how that works, but that is our idea. Some deeper defensive style. I am very optimistic about the implementation."

At the Youth World Championship 2013 in Hungary, Brkovic’s team reached the quarter-final and only missed out on the semi-final by some seconds as Spain scored a last-minute winner to take the game 21:20.

Getting close to the semi-finals against is at least the goal for Serbia in Austria.

"We stayed out of the medal battles by just one goal. We want to put ourselves in the same position and fight for the semis," says Brkovic.

"This team has more potential than the roster from the last year. We want to go a step further. The group is tough, but we have chances to win in all three matches.

"Spain and France will probably wait for us probably in the main round. We can play tight matches against both of them."

For Brkovic Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Spain are considered as the favorites for the trophy.

"Only Croatia are missing in that company because they failed to qualify. That is the quartet of the best teams, there is no doubt about that.

"We can’t say that Serbia are favourites because we don’t achieved any top result at the last two competitions."

Despite a solid seventh place at the Youth World Championship, a good handful of new players have entered the Serbian team.

"We will have six newcomers in the squad for the tournament in Austria. Last year’s right wing Aleksandar Radovanovic will now only play on the right back position.

"This is the best team and the best players which we have right now. They showed the best form during last season and deserve to be here.

"We are a better rehearsed team than before. The ‘Generation 1994’ has a good base, all they have to do for the future is keep working hard," concludes Brkovic.

Tournament information

The Men’s 20 EHF EURO takes place in the Austrian cities of Linz and Traun from 24 July to 3 August 2014. For more information visit the official website and the event’s Facebook page.

Over the next week and during the tournament eurohandball.com and the EHF EURO Facebook page will also feature regular reports, features and photo galleries.

Austria also hosted the Men’s 18 EHF EURO 2012 when the same generation of players took to the court. Back then Germany won, Sweden came second and Denmark placed third. Austria finished sixth.

The previous Men’s 20 EHF EURO took place in Turkey in 2012. Spain won ahead of Croatia and Slovenia. Austria had not qualified.