Defence leads Serbia to big win over USA

18 Jul. 2019

Defence leads Serbia to big win over USA

After struggling through the opening stages, Serbia recorded a clear victory over the USA that took their points tally to four on the Group A table. Serbia had opened their 2019 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship campaign with an exciting win over Japan in round one, before a more comfortable ride to the two points in round two.  

Serbia thereby moved up to four points alongside Slovenia, who defeated Japan earlier in the evening on Thursday 18 July. 

GROUP A
USA vs Serbia 19:36 (9:13)

It was a time-out that changed everything. The score stood at 5:4 in favour of the USA in the 17th minute when Serbia coach Boris Rojevic used his first time-out card. At that point, the USA had had some trouble in attack, but their goalkeeper Rene Ingram was stealing the show at the other end of the court. 

Serbia had great difficulty against Ingram in the opening quarter, needing three attempts on goal – all on strong chances, including a wide-angle wing shot and a fast break – before they finally hit the back of the net. In the sixth minute, Ingram had saved five out of six shots for an almost unheard of save rate of 80%. 

However, his team initially had trouble converting the chances to claim the upper hand created by their goalkeeper’s work. The score therefore progressed slowly at first. When Rojevic called the first time-out, after the USA took the lead for the first time (5:4), Ingram’s record stood at six saves out of 10 shots, for 60%.

Rojevic clearly shared some great wisdom with his side in the one-minute pause, as suddenly the contest with Ingram was all but over. The USA keeper did not save another shot until the 25th minute, and finished with a final tally of eight. However, the USA’s attack did start to work more efficiently, and they were able to keep within reach at 8:9 with five minutes left in the half. 

The entrance of goalkeeper Andrej Trnavac in the 22nd minute was key in Serbia’s dominance as the clock ticked on. The keeper stopped seven shots of the 12 that came his way through the remainder of the match – a statistic that also highlights the increasing strength of the defence in front of him. 

A 4:1 run for Serbia to end the first period earned the European side a promising base for the second had, and they resumed the game even stronger. USA coach Craig Rot tried changing to a 5-1 defensive formation, but nothing could contain now rampant Serbia. 10 minutes into the second half, Serbia hit their first 10-goal lead, 20:10, and from that point there was no coming back for the USA.

With the score at 27:14 as the last 10 minutes began, there was no doubt who would take the two points. Serbia were led in attack by a huge 10 goals from Nikola Ivanovic, and outscored their opponents 23:10 in the second 30 minutes. 

Players of the match: Nikola Ivanovic, Serbia