Iceland snatch late draw against Switzerland in dramatic finish

GROUP II

SWITZERLAND VS ICELAND 38:38 (19:19)

H2H: 4-2-9
Top scorers: Noam Leopold 7/7 (SUI); Elliði Viðarsson 8/9, Orri Freyr Þorkelsson 8/11 (ISL)
Goalkeepers: Nikola Portner 7/38, Jannis Scheidiger 0/5 (SUI); Viktor Hallgrímsson 8/37, Björgvin Páll Gústavsson 3/11 (ISL)
POTM presented by Grundfos: Noam Leopold (SUI)

• the opening 18 minutes of the first half saw a back-and-forth battle between the two — Switzerland were the first to get a three-goal (13:10) lead following Iceland's offensive mistakes
• the goalkeepers had their share of on-time saves that led to a tie at half-time: Nikola Portner was at six, while Viktor Hallgrímsson saved seven times
• after a short Icelandic momentum after the break, Switzerland took their lead back and were in front up until the 58th minute of the match
• Iceland finally grabbed an equaliser (38:38) after scoring on an empty net as playing without a goalkeeper proved to be bad for Switzerland
• both sides had their chances for a win, in the end Iceland through Viggó Kristjánsson, but Samuel Röthlisberger blocked the shot on the buzzer
• Noam Leopold and Gino Steenaerts rose to the occasion, netting seven and six goals, respectively for Switzerland; Elliði Viðarsson and Viggó Kristjánsson were crucial in the closing moments for Iceland, ultimately netting eight and seven times
• Ómar Ingi Magnússon added three more goals, lifting his EHF EURO total to 111 and breaking into Iceland’s all-time top five scorers

Swiss on historic high, despite draw

Switzerland's return to the Men's EHF EURO main round was 22 years in the making and they were eager to show in Malmö they are capable of keeping up with the best teams. After their first point won in the main round against Hungary, and now they were close to going one step further.

Switzerland pulled off the performance of their lives to shock Iceland in the semi-final race and claimed another draw after leading for the most part of the game.

Andy Schmid's team continue writing history with two points on the table in this stage of the tournament, while Iceland are now at five. It was overall a strong Swiss performance on both sides of the court, stopping Iceland's main strength —their fast pace.

Photos © kolektiff images