Sweden – Russia 27:26 (15:10)

Sweden won the thriller against Russia

In the last quarter-final two of the favorites of this Women’s Junior World Championship had to play against each other. It was a tough match between two nearly equal teams, which Sweden won with 27:26. Sweden is now looking forward to the semi-final against Serbia, while Russia is going to the placement matches for the places 5 to 8 where they are going to meet the Norwegian team for the so called semifinal. Sweden had the better start into this decisive match and made it up to 4:1 after seven minutes, but in the following minutes they missed the chance to extend their lead as of four individual mistakes, but first almost remained without consequences. Russia took their time to come into this match and after 15 minutes they made it up to a 6:6 draw. The match was tight, but not on a high level. Only gradually, both teams took to the normal form. For several minutes no team could achieve more than a one-goal-lead up to the intermediate result of 9:9. But then Sweden scored three times in a row (12:9) and extended their lead up to 15:10 after the first 30 minutes.

After the break Sweden tried to keep their competitor on distance. But they failed. After only three minutes of the second period of this match Russia caught up to 14:17 and missed some good chances in the following minutes. And then it was Sweden-time again. Two fast goals brought the five-goal-lead back to the Scandinavians (19:14 after 40 minutes). But that was only a short interlude. Russia played now very well and they achieved the draw after 46 minutes (20:20). And with two more goals Russia turned the game and took over the lead against Sweden, who had lost their concentration. Supported by their fans, the Scandinavians braced themselves against the threat of defeat and were successful. After 55 minutes the match was absolutely open again when Sweden scored for 24:24. As the three other quarter-finals before the decision was thrilling. Swedish head coach Camilla Eriksson took a time-out and after that her team scored for the 27:26 lead. In return the Russians rejected. Sweden was not the better, but the luckier team. „The first half was really very well”, said Camilla Eriksson, „but in the second half we made too many mistakes in the offense. That´s why the match became open again. But after all of course I´m happy to go to the semi-final.” Best scorer of this thrilling match was Maria Adler (Sweden) with ten goals.