Slovenia ready for EHF EURO 2016; France, Denmark remain unbeaten
After Denmark, France and Hungary had already qualified for the EHF EURO 2016, Slovenia on Wednesday night became the next team to make it to the final tournament.
They first beat Slovakia 26:20 and all remaining doubts were removed when Sweden won their away game at Latvia 33:14 to also qualify for the EHF EURO 2016 (the detailed Sweden report will follow in Review 2).
Denmark and France recorded their fifth win in their fifth match each, while Russia won the first game of the double-header against Ukraine which was played on neutral ground.
Group 2: Lithuania vs. Denmark 31:25 (18:13)
Denmark, who were already qualified for Poland 2016 ahead of this match, kept their qualification record clean, while Lithuania's home victory in Round 4 against Bosnia-Herzegovina remained a 'one-hit-wonder'.
Thanks to a strong performance of goalkeeper Niklas Landin, Denmark, who had won the first leg 31:21, went from 6:6 to 17:11 – and at the break they led 18:13.
After the break Magnus Landin, Niklas' younger brother, and Johan Hansen celebrated their debuts in the Danish jersey, and coach Gudmundur Gudmundsson gave playing time to some more young players, but the clear win was never in danger.
Group 3: Slovakia vs. Slovenia 20:26 (10:13)
In what was the first match of new head coach Veselin Vujovic, Slovenia recorded a well-deserved win against Slovakia on Wednesday night which also granted them the ticket to the EHF EURO 2016.
As in the first leg, which Slovenia had won 31:25, six goals eventually separated the two teams again.
Jure Natek and Mario Sostaric were the best scorers for Slovenia with four goals each, while Slovakia's Oliver Rabek was the best scorer of the game with seven strikes.
The one and only lead the hosts enjoyed was at 1:0, then the Slovenians took control even though they played without one of their best scorers, Dragan Gajic.
At half-time the score stood at 13:10, but when they led 24:17 with 10 minutes left to play the match was decided in Slovenia's favour.
Group 5: Russia vs. Ukraine 27:22 (15:10)
After two defeats against Hungary in April, Russia took the first win in the first of three matches they play within five days.
The duel on neutral ground in Minsk was quite one-sided, as Ukraine, who miss some of their best players, were not able to keep up.
The second leg will already take place – again in Minsk – on Thursday.
In case of another Russian win, the duel Russia against Portugal in Moscow on Sunday will decide, which team will follow Hungary from this group to Poland.
Timur Dibirov (6 goals) and Alexander Dereven (5) were the best Russian scorers, while Maksim Karamyshev stroke five times for Ukraine, who remain on zero points in this group.
Russia led throughout the entire 60 minutes and eventually took a never endangered win. After 21 minutes the margin stood at five goals for the first time where it remained until the break.
In the second half, the Russians already saved some power for tomorrow’s match. The biggest distance was seven goals at 25:18.
Group 6: Czech Republic vs. France 24:34 (10:16)
The current world, EHF EURO and Olympic champions overran Czech Republic again: Like in the first leg, which France had won 41:25, the hosts, who needed to replace their top stars Filip Jicha and Pavel Horak, were left completely without a chance.
While the French side have the optimum of ten points on their account, the Czechs remain on five points and ranked, but feel FYR Macedonian in their necks.
The teams' direct duel on Sunday in Skopje will definitely decide the second team from this group to book the ticket to Poland.
Even the fact that the French team gave newly crowned VELUX EHF Champions League winner Nikola Karabatic a break, did not stop their engines.
The first 15 minutes were played on equal level (7:7), then France accelerated and turned their defence into a 'block of concrete'.
The Czechs only scored three more times in the next 15 minutes until the break, so the backlog was already six goals when the team's went into the changing rooms.
And in the second half it took France only eleven minutes until the margin was double-figured for the first time at 25:15 – this was at the latest when the match was decided, and the ten-goal gap remained until the final whistle.
Top scorers were Ondrej Zdrahala (eight goals for the Czechs) and Kentin Mahe, who netted in seven times from seven attempts for the defending EHF EURO champions.
TEXT:
Björn Pazen / ts