Three days ago, Sweden were stopped in their tracks by a sturdy Serbian defence, conceding a painful 21:24 loss. Today, the Scandinavian side bounced back admirably to seal a dominant 33:25 win, taking a big step towards the EHF EURO 2022 in November.

GROUP 6

Sweden vs Serbia 33:25 (17:14)

• this was Serbia’s worst-ever loss in the Qualification Phase of the EHF EURO, three goals heavier than the 25:31 defeat against Slovenia in October 2013
• after Serbia took the lead for the first time, 11:10, after 20 minutes, Sweden produced an outstanding 7:2 run in the next seven minutes, spurred on by back Nina Dano and line player Linn Blohm, who both scored four times in the first half
• after being limited to only two goals three days ago against Serbia, Sweden’s back, Jamina Roberts, was the top scorer of the game, with eight goals
• Serbia lost their second away game in a row, after the one against Iceland, with both their wins coming at home
• Sweden are now leading the group with six points, followed by Serbia, who are on four points, while Iceland and Turkey have two points each, with a game in hand

Inefficient attack leaves Serbia empty-handed

While the 21:23 loss against Iceland in the second match of the group was a shock, Serbia expected a difficult game against Sweden in Ystad and it was a totally different story than three days ago, when the Scandinavian side could only muster 21 goals. Sweden managed to fine tune their game in defence, launching excellent fast breaks to break open the game, with Serbia unable to compete.

Sweden’s six-point tally brings them closer to their 11^th consecutive EHF EURO, while Serbia must beat Turkey and Iceland in the last two games to return to the competition.