Denmark and Romania faced each other in a match worth a quarterfinal in the last round of the Main Round. Last year, the two met in the quarterfinals of the world championship in Denmark and Romania stole the chance from the Danish team to win a medal in front of their own crowd. Now it was time for revenge for Denmark. The match was very close during the whole first half, the two sides were going hand in hand with both teams taking the lead every now and then. The goalkeepers, Sandra Toft and Paula Ungureanu were making some great saves, and the first time when the difference was more than one goal was after 26 minutes played (11-9). This difference remained for the rest of the half so Denmark was a little bit closer to the semifinal (12-10).
In the second half, Denmark was in much more control of the game. Toft’s saving efficiency was close to 50% as Denmark’s lead grew to five goals in the 40th minute (17-12). The biggest star and key player of the Romanian team, Cristina Neagu wasn’t as effective as she was in the last matches and this was decisive for Romania in this game. Denmark was making a great defense and the semifinal dreams seemed to fade away for Romania as the Scandinavians were up by 6 goals with 15 minutes left (19-13). Even though Denmark was unable to score in the next 10 minutes, Romania didn’t really manage to come close to them. When with less than 4 minutes left, one of the best Danish players on court Anne Mette Hansen scored her 9th goal in the match, the Danish semifinal place was already guaranteed and the emotions were hitting the Danish team and staff hard. Denmark won (21-17) well-deserved against Romania and took revenge for missing the medal fights last year: they will face the Netherlands in the semifinal.
EHF EURO – Main Round Group II – Round 3
Denmark – Romania 21-17 (12-10)
Denmark: A.M. Hansen 9, M. Tranborg 4, S. Nielsen 3, S. Jorgensen 2, T. Ostergaard Jensen 1, A.C. Dornonville De La Cour 1, M. Fisker 1
Romania: E. Buceschi 4(3), C. Neagu 3, C. Laslo 2, C. Pintea 2, M. Zamfirescu 1, C. Zamfir 1, O. Manea 1, A.M. Iuganu 1, M. Geiger 1, A. Udristioiu 1
Penalties: 0/2 ; 3/3
Suspensions: 14 minutes ; 6 minutes
Player of the match: Sandra Toft (DEN)
RSS