Hungary first to main round from nail-biting group C

The match was still level around the 40-minute mark, before Hungary took charge from there and looked to be sailing smoothly to victory, but Serbia fought back to within one for yet another thriller in the group.  

Serbia’s chance for the main round remains alive, but they now also rely on Iceland’s result in round 3 to determine which of the two sides will progress.

GROUP C

Serbia vs Hungary 27:28 (13:14)

• Hungary took the win after establishing a two-goal lead in the 43rd minute and increasing the advantage up to five goals from there. Serbia mounted a comeback and were two goals behind with 16 seconds to go, managed an intercept and scored – but could not net the equaliser
• highlighting Serbia’s sound defence, Hungary made many more passes on the patient hunt for their goals than their opponents, recording 670 compared to 473 for Serbia
• Hungary’s movable attack created great opportunities to pass into the line and they scored some superb goals via their line players Miklós Rosta and Bence Bánhidi, especially the latter, who reached a tally of nine goals and received the Grundfos Player of the Match Award
• Hungary led by three goals two minutes before the end of the opening half, but Serbia closed the gap with a run of shots that put them closer within reach
• Serbia brought on Vladimir Cupara for the second half after Dejan Milosavljev made four saves in the first 30 minutes, and Cupara did the change justice initially, recording the same number of saves after 11 minutes on court
• also coming on in the second period, Hungary goalkeeper László Bartucz saved five shots (36 per cent) to play a key role

Nothing in it for group C

The brutal reality for group C is that two great teams will progress to the main round while two will go home, as only two tickets to the next stage are available. The top-ranked side, Hungary, has scored the same number of goals – 54 – as bottom-ranked Montenegro, making this clearly the closest group in the competition. Serbia have also scored 54 goals, while Iceland narrowly have the best attack in the group with 58 goals scored now.

The next closest group has a difference of 20 goals between the top and bottom teams.

Based on the result in this game, Hungary have taken one of the main round places, which means either Iceland or Serbia will farewell the EHF EURO 2024 in round 3. Montenegro were knocked out with their loss against Iceland earlier on Sunday evening.

Photos © Kolektiff Images