Paris 2024 | Superb Slovenia snatch win against Sweden to complicate Group A even further
31 Jul. 2024
As the last match in the third round in Group A at the men’s handball competition produced yet another surprise, Slovenia taking a 29:24 win against Sweden, four teams are now tied on four points in the standings, with each team still having two games to play.
PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES – PRELIMINARY ROUND
GROUP A
Slovenia vs Sweden 29:24 (15:14)
Taking the two sides at face value, Sweden were the favourites against Slovenia, especially as they bounced back after their loss in the opener against Germany, 27:30, with a win against Spain, 29:26.
On the other hand, Slovenia had lost the first match, 22:25 against Spain, but delivered a win against Croatia, 31:29, making the group even murkier, complicating matters even more, especially if they secured another win, against Sweden.
Sweden’s attack relies heavily on centre back Jim Gottfridsson, the MVP of the EHF EURO 2018 and EHF EURO 2022 and if Gottfridsson has an underwhelming performance, the whole team sufferes. And this is exactly what happened against Slovenia, with the centre back delivering one goal and four assists, but failing to instil any rhythm in the Scandinavian side’s attack.
But Sweden are a never-say-die team and despite being four goals down (8:4) and even five goals down (11:6), they constantly pushed Slovenia until the end of the first half, using a 3:0 run to tie the score, 14:14, spurred by left wing Hampus Wanne.
Yet Slovenia tried to make a statement of intent in the second half and they took the match to Sweden, backed by a fantastic outing from Blaz Janc. The right wing, who also featured as a right back, shined on the court, being unstoppable from each and every position – be it fast breaks, the back line or the right wing – to finish the match with 10 goals.
A 3:1 run for Slovenia at the start of the second half helped Uros Zorman’s side open a 20:17 lead, but it was also goalkeeper Klemen Ferlin who shined, saving nine shots for a 47% saving efficiency, after entering the court in the second half.
The pivotal moment of the match was when Sweden lost Jim Gottfridsson, who conceded a red card, as well as a blue card, due to a hard foul against Slovenia’s centre back Dean Bombac. From that moment on, Sweden lost any kind of momentum they had in attack, opening the gates for a Slovenia win. And with any goal being crucial in this well-balanced group, Uros Zorman’s side never backed down, pushed the pedal until the end, opening a seven-goal gap, 27:21, with four minutes to go.
Eventually, Slovenia secured their second-largest win in history at the Olympic Games, 29:24, with the record still being the 33:20 win against Australia, at Sydney 2000, after one of the best performances by Uros Zorman’s side in recent memory.
Adding to Sweden’s woes, with two minutes to go into the match, right wing Daniel Pettersson suffered an ankle injury, becoming doubtful for the rest of the competition, as Sweden left the match beaten, bruised and battered.
After the conclusion of the third round in Group A, there are four teams with four points – Croatia, Slovenia, Germany and Spain – while Sweden are following up with two points and Japan are last, with zero points.
The Scandinavian side now needs to win their last two matches to have a chance to progress, the matches against Croatia and Japan, with the first one being key in their hopes of a quarter-finals berth.