03.04.2014, 01:19
60 minutes to decide who continues on the road to Poland

PREVIEW: Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Switzerland can be optimistic about their chances to make it to the final qualification phase for the Men's EHF EURO 2016. Draw takes place on 11 April in Warsaw

60 minutes to decide who continues on the road to Poland

There is just one match left that separates the teams from Romania, Finland, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia and Switzerland from the final qualification phase for the Men's EHF EURO 2016.

However, only can three can make it, and chances look very good for Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Switzerland and also Romania can be carefully optimistic. All matches can be followed via the EHF live ticker.

Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded a convincing 28:23 victory at Thessaloniki against Greece and can now count on their home crowd in Cazin on Saturday (20:15 hrs local time) to support them on their way.

Switzerland brought an even more comfortable lead back home as they beat Estonia 34:26 at Tallin. Especially the quartet, David Graubner, Manuel Liniger, Nicolas Raemy and Andy Schmid, was impeccable, scoring 27 goals together.

"Our attack played close to perfection," said a visibly satisfied Swiss head coach Rolf Braack. The second leg throws off in St. Gallen on Friday at 20:00 hrs local time.

The third play-off was the closest of them all. Finland fought hard against Romania and only went down in the dying minutes of the match, eventually losing 30:32 at Bucharest.

However, with the return leg taking place in front of their home crowd at Karjaa on Saturday (16:05 hrs local time), Finland kept all the chances and are expected to give Romania a tough run for their money.

Qualification draw in Warsaw

Following the conclusion of the play-off matches the draw for the second qualification phase of the EHF EURO 2016 will take place on 11 April 2014 at 11:30 hrs in Warsaw.

The then 28 teams qualified for this phase will be drawn into seven groups of four teams each. The top two ranked teams from each group and the best third ranked team overall will join the hosts, Poland, at the final tournament from 15 to 31 January 2016.

There will be a live stream available via the official website, www.ehf-euro.com, and live tweets on the official Twitter channel, @EHFEURO.

TEXT: EHF / ts