Day 6 – Debrecen
DebrecenRomania advanced to the main round in a thrilling match
In the first match of Group B, both the Serbians and the Romanians took to the field in order
to advance. The former needed a larger victory to do so, while the latter, depending on the
outcome of the evening's match, would have been enough to score a point. Accordingly, the
beginning of the match was tight, neither side was able to build a significant lead until the
15th minute. After that, however, the Serbians switched to a higher pace, which has the
result, as they led 15-10 shortly before the end of the first half. The Romanians came closer
to three goals until the break, and then reduced their deficit to one goal at the beginning of
the second half. The continuation brought a similar scenario, as the Serbians first advanced
by four, and then the Romanians reduced it to one. But this time, they turned the result, so
after 1-2, in the 49th minute they had the lead again, which they quickly increased to two
goals. And they didn't let this go, so they could finally celebrate a 27-25 victory, which, as it
turned out later, secured their place in the main round. Angela Stoica, who scored five goals,
was awarded as Grundfos Player of the Match.
Montenegro reached the main round with a flawless performance
After the Romanians' victory, the Czech Republic entered the evening match with a need to
win in order to advance, while Montenegro could have done with a minor defeat. The first ten
minutes brought inaccurate play and a total of six goals, which were shared equally by the
teams. This was followed by a seven-minute goalless period, which was broken by
Montenegro, who quickly increased their lead to three goals. The Czechs scored again after
a quarter of an hour thanks to Jerábková, but they were unable to score another goal times
in the rest of the half. Montenegro took advantage of it and went into the break with a 12-4
lead. Montenegro didn't play well at the beginning of the second half, so the Czech Republic
managed to close the gap to 13-9. But that didn't last long, as Bent Dahl's team produced
another six minutes goalless streak. During this time, Montenegro increased its lead to nine
goals and almost decided the main part of the clash. In the end, Suzana Lazovic's team won
28-21, thus advancing to the semi-finals with a flawless performance. Armelle Attingré, who
made ten saves, was awarded as Grundfos Player of the Match.