Victory against Sweden fundamentally changed the relations in Group II and, from the Croatian point of view, further complicated the situation in the second round. Islamđani with that triumph, they corrected the glitch against Croatia and opened their way to the semi-finals, provided they achieve two more victories by the end. But moreć in the next meeting, those plans began to fall apart.
Against Switzerlandthe most pleasant surprise of the championship, Iceland failed to impose itself as a favorite. The match ended without a winner, and the outcome was once again in the hands of Croatia. Two victories in the remaining matches would ensure the Croatian national team a place in the finals and at least two more matches in the fight for medals. How much opportunity the Icelanders missed is clearly shown by the reactions of their media, which quickly replaced the euphoria after the celebration against Sweden with disappointment.
Malmo: Switzerland vs. Iceland in the second round of the EHF European Championship |
“Our boys have to rely on other results”, concludes the Icelandic portal RUV.
Iceland currently has five points, Sweden has four, but tonight (20:30) at home against the unconvincing Hungarians, and then the Swiss in the last round, give them great chances for maximum impact. Croatia and Slovenia have four points each before the meeting between them. Icelanders are more they have made a calculation according to which they can still break through to the top four of the best national team, so they are hoping for a Slovenian victory.
“If Slovenia beats Croatia, on Wednesday we can beat them in a head-to-head match and overtake them in the table”, they describe the scenario in which they would finish ahead of both national teams.
Uoči susreta Island – Sloveniawhich is scheduled for Wednesday at 15.30, the Icelandic media will once again return to the missed opportunity against Switzerland.
“We bit into a poisonous apple. It seemed that we saved ourselves when the Swiss had two games down 50 seconds before the end, only to witness the frustrating end,” writes RUV and lists the reasons why Iceland did not win: “In the second half, the efficiency of our shots was only 64 percent.”
The Visir portal thinks similarly:
“The defense struggled from the very beginning, we conceded too many goals, it seemed that the Swiss were scoring from every attack. This was painful to watch, and we also played the last attack badly. We have to admit that a draw is a fair result,” the Icelanders conclude.