Greece stun Netherlands, while four more teams added second win

GROUP 2 

Slovakia vs Serbia 21:27 (12:16)

Like Norway before, Serbia have four points on their account and are on the best way towards the EHF EURO 2024, while the Slovaks still wait for their first point. After their 34:24 win against Finland on Wednesday, the Serbs have an anniversary to celebrate on Sunday, it was their 50th EHF EURO qualifier, and they took their 31st victory. Serbia had constantly been ahead and took their first five-goals advantage already ten minutes before the break, leading 11:6. Slovakia technically lost the hope for a better result, when Veszprém’s line player Dragan Pechmalbec netted for the 24:16 with still 11 minutes to play. Best scorers of a one-sided match were Bogdan Radivojevic with eight goals for the Serbs and Martin Potisk, scoring six goals for the hosts, who had already lost their opener 26:38 against Norway.

Fernando Gurich (ESP),  Slovakia head coach: "We knew Serbian strongest parts, great defence with Kukic at the back. Sometimes we could manage it properly. We are developing new defensive system; we need to go step by step."

Michal Martin Konecny, goalkeeper of Slovakia: "Unfortunately we lost the game. Especially in the second half we had some chances for better result. Serbia played well and they deserve this win. We are working step by step with our new defence and we need a lot more practices and hard games to get better.”

Antonio Gerona (ESP),  Serbia head coach: "We knew before the game that it will be hard if we do not go with 100 percent of concentration. We did a good job in both games what we had, and we are happy with four points."

Bogdan Radivojevic, right wing of Serbia: "It was a difficult match. Slovakia has a new roster, new coach and they were fighting all 60 minutes. They played with passion. We missed a lot of chances and their goalkeeper was really good. But we are happy with the win, no one from our team was injured, mission accomplished.”

GROUP 4

Romania vs Ukraine 34:26 (18:14) 

Romania might just break their 28-year wait for an EHF EURO berth if they keep it like this, at least in home matches. It is true, they have also beaten Montenegro in the previous edition of the qualifiers and then collapsed, but this team looks better and can sustain that kind of attacking output against sides like Austria and the Faroe Islands. And it was all Romania from start to finish, taking an early lead and never looking back, riding on some great action from right back Demis Grigoras and left wing Nicusor Negru. The latter was nothing short of amazing in the last two games, boasting an 18-goal tally in these matches. Romania’s win made Ukraine the first team to fail to mount a two-game winning streak in the EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers, as this group looks like one that will be tough to call out until the end. 

Ionut Iancu, goalkeeper of Romania: "I am happy that so many supporters witnessed a great match. The victory is the most important thing and it gives us trust. It’s about time we qualify to a major competition, and now we are closer. Before the match, Ukraine was considered a favourite, even by coach Pascual, but they are going through a difficult time.”

Xavi Pascual, Romania head coach: "For us, it is a very important victory, the team played very well the entire match. I believe the team deserved to win. We worked all the week and it is a good result and a good goal difference. Ukraine is better than us, this is the official ranking. For us, this is not important, but to win the matches we play. Everyone can enjoy it now, and for the next match we need more pressure on the opponents from the supporters, who connect with our team."

Andrii Akimenko, right wing of Ukraine: "We tried, but Romania has many good players. With time, I think we can be better, we will see in the next match what will happen. With the situation in Ukraine, we do our job, every day, we will see, we hope for better days soon...”

Faroe Islands vs Austria 28:30 (14:14)

Thanks to eight goals from Lukas Hutecek and seven strikes from Robert Weber (who scored his 900th goal for the national team), Austria kept their clean record in the EHF EURO 2024 qualification. After their 36:32 against Romania on Thursday, the Austrians had to struggle until the final whistle to secure the victory. Boosted by seven goals from M18 EHF EURO 2022 top scorer Oli Mittun, the hosts were close to their second-ever victory in the qualification round 2 for EHF EURO events. Austria led twice by three goals, but the first half was more or less equal, and though the hosts never managed to get ahead, the match was on the edge until minute 55, when Austrian Sebastian Frimmel netted for the 27:24.   

Óli Mittún, left back of Faroe Islands: "I am a bit disappointed right now, but I am satisfied that we managed to play up against a good team of Austria. I have been looking forward to playing to my first match at home with the men's team and I hope I have many matches ahead for the next years to come."

Peter Bredorffs-Larsen (DEN), Faroe Islands head coach: "We played a good game. Austria is a great team with strong players, who are bigger then ours. We used our quickness and that plan worked, but we had some troubles with their counter-attack. We can be satisfied even though it did not result in points this time."

GROUP 5 

Greece vs Netherlands 32:28 (15:12) 

The Netherlands survived a scare last Wednesday when they could only take a one-goal lead against Belgium. It went from bad to worse for the Dutch side, the underdogs who bit several times at the EHF, as they try to get to grips with their new coach, Staffan Olsson. They went behind early in their game against Greece and could never set up a rhythm, conceding their first loss in the EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers. For the hosts, it was their first win after a six-game losing run, their worst in history in the competition, which could help them set up nicely for an EHF EURO berth, their first-ever in history. On the other hand, right back Kay Smits had a superb outing for the Dutch side, scoring seven goals to take his overall tally in the EHF EURO Qualifiers to 19 goals, but failed to prevent his team lose, 28:32. 

GROUP 7 

Kosovo vs Slovenia 24:29 (12:14)

Two EHF Champions League stars were the keys to Slovenia’s second win in this competition: Blaz Janc (Barca) and Aleks Vlah (Celje) were their top scorers of this duel by six and five goals. After their 28:20 on Thursday against Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Slovenians are on the best way towards Germany 2024. The host had improved from the 20:29 defeat at Montenegro in round 1 and imprinted the first 20 minutes, leading 12:9. Then, Slovenia struck back by a 6:0 run for the 15:12. Kosovo - boosted by six goals of Egzon Gjuka and five strikes of Drilon Tahirukaj - did not give up at any time, but finally, the individual class of Slovenia was crucial, and the visitors decided the match latest at the 28:21 six minutes before the end.   

GROUP 8

Italy vs France 29:40 (13:19) 

France continued on their goal-fest level: After beating Latvia 35:18 in their opener, they also defeated Italy in an impressive fashion and have the maximum of four points after two rounds with a goal difference of +28 goals on their account. 13 of 14 French court players made it to the scorer list, led by the EHF Champions League stars Nicolas Tournat (Kielce/seven goals) and Barca’s left back Timothy N’Guessan (six). Surprisingly, Italy were ahead 6:3, before the French motor got rolling - scoring a 12:7 run until the break, but it took until minute 46 and the score of 31:21, until they had gained their first double-figured advantage. The best scorer for the Italians, who had lost their opener 23:30 against Poland, was Andrea Parisini by seven goals.  

Timothey N'Guessan, left back of France: "The start of the game was complicated, but we have grown during the match; we are happy for the final result, we played a good game scoring 40 goals, so we did a good job in a nice atmosphere with a lot of spectators. Our next opponent in the qualification path will be Poland, but the game will be in March 2023 so we’re now focused on the World Championship in January.

Andrea Parisini, captain of Italy: "France are probably the best team in the world and we knew it was going to be a tough match as it was. We played a good game, maybe we have some regrets in defence but after all we did a good job. Now we have to think about winning against Latvia and trying to win the second leg here in Italy against Poland. I wish to thank our supporters, because they responded to the call of this match, creating a nice atmosphere and it was a pleasure to play here tonight."