Having snatched a point off the Olympic silver medalists from Beijing, Serbia will have another chance to replicate their fine performance when they take on another giant tonight, 8.15 CET – reigning European champions Denmark.
Serbia opened the game on a low and managed to score their first goal as late as the sixth minute of play, when Momir Ilic converted a penalty throw. Although Sead Hasanefendic’s men narrowed the initial gap to 3-1 and the Serbia coach tried to reshuffle the team’s play with a different system of defence and early pressure, Iceland continued to torment Serbia. Lacking a clear concept of play and finding the net with only every third shot on target, Serbia’s misery was compounded by an outstanding goal-scoring performance from Iceland’s Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson.
Hasanefendic introduced a number of substitutes in order to reverse Serbia’s fate, but Iceland never intended to drop the lead, not even when two men down. Serbian camp must have been awfully pleased to take the four-point deficit at halftime, a scoreline that bore little witness to the balance of powers on the court.
With two goals from Ivan Stankovic early in the second half, Serbia were resurgent and showed signs of improved confidence and organization in play. On the other end, Iceland were still finishing their own attacks with the greatest of ease and quickly. However, when Serbia’s top scorer Momir Ilic scored his first goal from open play on 35 minutes – his fourth altogether at that time against Iceland and 502nd for the national team – Iceland’s cast-iron defence started to leak.
Serbia’s game was now on a rise, spearheaded by Ilic at left-back, sub Vuckovic at centre back and Toskic at pivot. The team managed to reduce the deficit to only two points on two occasions, with Serbia goalkeepers producing some impressive saves from penalty throws. Serbia succeeded in overcoming the poor display in the first half to battle to a exciting closing stages of their opening match at the Euro 2010.
Atlason and Gunnarsson continued to score goals for Iceland, while Serbia at the other end had a couple of nervy misses as Iceland came to a 28-24 lead after 54 minutes of play. Against all odds and the run of play, Serbia then proved the unique beauty of handball was in a dogged approach to the game.
Stakovic scored six goals from as many shots in the second half, which, coupled with Stanic’s frequent saves, managed to keep Iceland at bay. Key moments in the match were when Serbia pulled another one back with a man down to make it 29-27 for their opposition. As the penultimate minute of play was dying, Toskic scored as Serbia were one goal down for the first time, after which Iceland made a second consecutive attacking foul. Vuckovic then scored his fourth goal of the game to level the score at 29-29. Still, in the dying moments of the game, Gunnarsson was awarded a penalty throw, and Snorri Gudjonsson had a chance to steal the win for Iceland from the seven-meter line. Serbia goalkeeper Stanic came out big and stopped the shot to mark the beginning of Serbia’s celebration at taking a point off the Olympic silver-medalists.
Euro 2010, preliminary round, day 1
Serbia v Iceland 29-29 (11-15)
Linz, Tips Arena
Referees: Reiner and Bernd Methe (Germany)
Serbia: Stanic 14 saves, Kojic 1 goal, Sesum 3, Nikcevic, Stojanovic 2, Toskic 4, Peric, Ilic 7 (4 pens), Markovic 1, Pejanovic 2 saves, Andjelkovic, Lapcevic, Vilovski, Vuckovic 4, Nenadic 1, Stankovic 6.
Iceland: Gustavsson 10 saves, Svavarsson, Geirsson, Palmarsson, Ingimundarson 2 goals, Hallgrimsson, Atlason 7, Sigurdsson 9, Gudjonsson 1, Stefansson 4 (1), Asgeirsson, Petersson 2, Gudmundsson 6 saves, Jakobsson, Gunarsson 4.
Group B standings: Denmark 2 points, Serbia 1, Iceland 1, Austria 0
Source:english.blic.rs/S
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