The EHF EURO 2016 has officially started this afternoon with the game between Serbia and Slovenia in Sweden. In the first round of Group A, Serbia managed to defeat Slovenia and collected two very important points. This match could be crucial for advancing to the main round.
The match started this way: pressure and suspense could be seen on both teams until Serbia scored their first goal after more than three minutes gone. Serbia was the first team to have a bigger lead (9-5) but Slovenia fought back into the game. The match was rather a crazy run with two teams forgetting about the defense and with the intention to score more goals than the opponent. In the second part of the first half, Serbia and Slovenia went hand in hand as none of them could take a significant lead. After 28 minutes, Slovenia took the lead for the first time in the match but the half still ended with a 17-16 lead for the Serbians. The wings were the most effective on both sides: Sanja Radosavljevic was the best Serbian player on court while Tamara Mavsar led Slovenia.
Nothing changed for the second half: the two teams continued running and there was absolutely no defense. Almost every attack ended with a goal on both sides. After the clock hit the 40 minutes mark, Slovenia started to make more mistakes which gave a chance to Serbia to build up a bigger lead (28-24). But when it seemed Slovenia would be out of fuel for the rest of the match, they were running close behind their opponent once again. The 32-32 with five minutes left meant there would be an exciting “money time”, but Serbia could concentrate better in the last five minutes and won the game. The Serbians collected two very important points and made a big step towards the next stage of the competition right on the first day.
EHF EURO 2016 – Group A (Stockholm) – 1st round
Serbia – Slovenia 36-34 (17-16)
Serbia: S. Radosavljevic 8, S. Pop-Lazic 6, K. Krpez Slezak 6(3), K. Liscevic 5, J. Stoiljkovic 4, J. Lavko 3, T. Georgijev 2, M. Obradovic 2
Slovenia: T. Mavsar 9(2), A. Gros 8(1), N. Irman 6, B. Lazovic 3, L. Krhlikar 3, N. Jericek 3, T. Stanko 2
Penalties: 3/4; 3/5
Suspensions: 6 minutes ; 6 minutes
Player of the match: Sanja Radosavljevic (Serbia)
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