Iceland eases past Montenegro in European Handball Championship-Xinhua

Iceland eases past Montenegro in European Handball Championship

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2022-01-27 09:56:01

BUDAPEST, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Iceland eased past Montenegro, the Netherlands drew with Croatia, while France triumphed here on the 13th day of the men's handball EURO 2022 in Hungary.

The Nordic team took the upper hand right from the start, leaving no chance for the Montenegrins to run out 34-24 winners.

In the first 30 minutes, Iceland players found the net more than twice as much as their adversaries to lead 17-8, although the Balkan team woke up in the second half, mostly thanks to Milos Vujovis. However, the awakening never really threatened coach Gudmundur Gudmundsson's team.

"We have seen them, and we had great respect for our opponent today and we tried to prepare as well as possible," Gudmundsson said after the match.

"They were much better prepared today - much stronger, much more physical and not so tired as we were. I think that the whole team, my team, was in pretty bad shape except for this guy (Milos Vujovic) who is sitting beside me. His energy level is always on the next," Zoran Roganovic, Montenegrin coach, declared.

Later on Wednesday, the Netherlands drew with Croatia 28-28.

Saying the match was too close to call does not do justice to the frenzy of the last seconds with the final score coming in the last 16 seconds. Tin Lucin looked to have won it for Croatia at 59:44, but Luc Steins had time to retaliate and scored his sixth goal with only five seconds to go.

"It was a very tough game at the end of a tough tournament, it was a big achievement," Dutch coach Edwin Kippers said.

In the last game of the day, France edged off Denmark 30-29, the first loss for the Danish in the tournament.

France advance into the semifinals against Sweden, while Denmark set up the other semis matchup with Spain on Friday.