Battle for EHF EURO 2016: Serbia, Croatia and Hungary on 100%
Kvalifikacije za EHF EURO 2016: Srbija, Mađarska i Hrvatska na 100%
The start of the Men’s EHF EURO 2016 campaign was successful for most of SEHA GSS League’s countries. Serbia, Croatia and Hungary have managed to start the campaign for Poland 2016 with two wins, Macedonia and Belarus have 3 points from 2 matches, Bosnia and Herzegovina have one point while Slovakia has not managed to reach a win in first two matches.
Croatia has, even without Domagoj Duvnjak who has left the team due to eye problems, showed capability to play against anyone with a role of favorite on their back. Head-coach Slavko Goluža has had no worries against the Netherlands 35:24 (Slišković and Čupić both 6 goals) and Turkey in Ankara 32:22 (Čupić and Kopljar - both 6 goals). Croatia is on the first place in group 1 along with Norway with 4 points.
Belarus and Bosnia and Herzegovina have played the most interesting match of Round 1 in Minsk - 25:25. Bosnians have been closer to take points, but at the end, Pukhouski (6 goals)has, with two goals brought the important point for hosts Top scorer in Bosnian team was Faruk Vražalić with the same amount of goals as Belarus Pukhouski.
In their second encounters last weekend, Belarus was better than Lithuania with 30:28, again with Pukhouski in the main role (8 goals). Even 5.000 home fans in "Mejdan" hall in Tuzla weren’t enough to stop European vice-champions, Danes. At the end, Denmark was better than BIH 25:23 with crucial efforts of goalie Niklas Landin and Mikkel Hansen (5 goals). In the home team, Muhamed Toromanović scored 6 goals.
Slovakia has suffered two convincing defeats at the start of the battle for tournament in Poland. Slovenia were clearly better in Koper - 31:25 (Rabek scored 7 goals), while the worst moment of Slovakian EHF week was definitely second half of the home match against Sweden 23:33 (15:16). Urban scored 7 goals for his team, but that wasn’t enough to avoid a small catastrophe in front of their home fans.
Serbia has made a huge step towards Poland 2016 with two wins in the first week of qualifications. Team coached by Dejan Perić was better than Montenegro 25:21 (10:9) in front of 6.000 fans in "Pionir" hall in Belgrade. Marko Vujin and Darko Đukić (7 goals) have had the main role alongside goalie Miroslav Kocić. Serbian goalkeeper was the key men with 17 saves together with Rastko Stojković (6 goals) in away success in Israel, where Serbs were better than the home team 26:22 (13:10). "Eagles", now, have four points and will spend the winter at the top of Group 4.
Hungary has experienced some difficulties beating Portugal 31:30 (19:15) in the opener of EHF EURO 2016 Qualification, but at the end of the week, Talant Dujshebaev and his guys have smiles on their faces. Hungarian team, Olympic semi-finalists, have showed their real strength in an away match in Ukraine 33:20 with Gergo Ivancsik as the best scorer with 7 goals.
Finally, Macedonians have made a strong effort to win an important point against Czech Republic 27:27 in Zlin. Kiril Lazarov (10 goals), outstanding Borko Ristovski (20 saves) and their team-mates were 8 goals down (19:11) at the start of the second half, but they managed to get back into the game. With two points from the first match against Switzerland 27:20, Macedonians are now second in the group with three points, right behind France. Qualifications for Men’s EHF EURO 2016 will continue in April 2015.
SEHA GSS League will, on the other side, on WCh in Qatar in January have refereeing representatives. Three referee couples were nominated for upcoming event in Doha - Serbs Stojković - Nikolić, Macedonians Načevski and Nikolov and Croats Milošević - Gubica.