Denmark and Serbia stand alone as group leaders

Bosnia-Herzegovina proved a challenge for Denmark when the teams met for their second EHF EURO 2016 qualifier on Sunday. The first half of the match saw Bosnia quickly take control, though Denmark soon recovered and took the lead to record a thrilling away victory.

Serbia meanwhile met an unpredictable Israel side that quickly countered any lead the visitors created. But Serbia held on when it counted, recording their second win in the qualification phase and taking themselves to the top of Group 4.

Denmark are also alone with four points at the top of their table in Group 2.

Group 2: Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Denmark 23:25 (11:12)

Bosnia-Herzegovina continued their solid form in a surprisingly close match with Denmark on Sunday. Denmark are always intimidating opponents to face, but Bosnia proved they are capable of being shaken.

It was Bosnia-Herzegovina’s defence in particular that presented a challenge to the Danes. The host’s aggressive 3-3 defence pushed the Danish attack to its limit, forcing the back court players to be creative and compromising their renowned ball-handling accuracy somewhat.

Fifteen minutes into the match the score was tied at 7:7, though Bosnia-Herzegovina appeared to be in control of the game – and the vocal home crowd was helping.

Denmark’s experience began to come through at this point, as the visitors slowly took control of the pace of the match and Bosnia-Herzegovina switched to a less-aggressive defensive system.

The score continued to be level, but it did not reflect what was happening on court. Denmark led by just one goal at the break (11:12).  

The match resumed with more controlled attack from both teams, but Bosnia switched back to a more aggressive defence and though Denmark worked to remain composed, their hosts were certainly makings things difficult.

The visitors pulled ahead briefly at different stages throughout the second period, but it was only when Denmark created a three-goal lead midway through the half that it seemed to finally stick.

Denmark kept that difference right through to the end of the match, taking home a highly-contested two points from a well-fought game on behalf of both teams.

Group 4: Israel vs. Serbia 22:26 (10:13)

Having lost by 17 goals against an efficient Icelandic side in their first qualification match on Wednesday, Israel were not expected to challenge the more-experienced Serbia as much as they did on Sunday.

Early results in the group indicate that, logically, Israel should struggle against Serbia and Montenegro just as much as they did against Iceland, but that was not the case.

Israel has a history of performing well above expectation in home matches – and they did just that on Sunday.

It was in the 15th minute that Serbia began to pull away as expected, creating a six-goal lead by the 26th minute. Israel responded with several late goals that put them just three behind (10:13) going into the half-time break.

The second period began with a fairly even first ten minutes of play before Serbia began to slowly increase the score line. The visitors once again created a significant lead (16:21 in the 48th minute), but Israel countered with fast, successive goals that closed the gap to one goal in five minutes (20:21 in the 53rd).

Serbia refused to back down, working hard to regain their lead and ultimately winning the tense match with a four-goal victory.

Chen Pomeranz was outstanding for Israel, scoring nine goals. Rastko Stojkovic was the top scorer for Serbia with seven goals.

Serbia are now on top of Group 4 with four points, followed by Iceland and Montenegro, then Israel.