Montenegro seal seventh place to end Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023 on a high

Montenegro ended up on the seventh place at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship, opening the final day in Herning with a clear win over Czechia, 28:24.

PLACEMENT MATCH 7/8
Czechia vs Montenegro 24:28 (10:14)

A monster day of handball threw off in the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning with the Placement Match 7/8, which had a double meaning, in terms of the final ranking of the two teams, as well as which place will they have in the Olympic Qualification Tournaments next April.

And it was Montenegro which really applied the pressure from the get-go, with Bojana Popovic’s side, which impressed in the past two matches, albeit losing both, taking a 7:2 lead, courtesy of a strong defence, which left Czechia searching for answers.

As two of their top three scorers – which were all in the top 10 of the scoring standings in this edition of the IHF Women’s World Championship – failed to score at least a goal in the first 23 minutes, all rested on Marketa Jerabkova’s shoulders, with the left back improving her tally to 61 goals in the competition after scoring three times.

After a well-taken team time-out from coach Bent Dahl, Czechia bounced back and used a 5:0 run to tie the score, 7:7, as Montenegro once again disappointed in their attack, having their usual down period midway in the first half.

But after Popovic herself took a team time-out, the gap grew once again, as the connection between centre back Itana Grbic and line player Tatjana Brnovic yielded five goals, as Montenegro cruised to a 14:10 lead at the break, with Czechia’s defence failing to get the much-needed stops, despite six saves from goalkeeper Petra Kudláčková.

Finishing with only five goals from 15 shots, which improved her tally to 63 goals in this edition of the competition, Jerabkova could not help her team mount a comeback, as Czechia only had a 44% shooting efficiency, which was their main issue in the match.

After that four-goal lead at the break, Montenegro controlled the match expertly, with the gap constantly floating in the zone of five-six goals, as Bojana Popovic’s side led by six goals, 22:16, with only 13 minutes left, as Czechia needed a miracle to pull off a comeback.

Bent Dahl’s side did cut the gap to four goals, 18:22, but it was the most they could do, with Montenegro cruising in the end to a 28:24 win, as Czechia fielded plenty of second-string players in the closing stages of the match.

Czechia finished on the eighth place at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship, a big performance for the European side, tying their best-ever performance in the competition, which had been previously secured at Germany 2017.

On the other hand, Montenegro ended up on the seventh place, another good finish for a team boasting an interesting mix of youth and experience, providing some good results, even if they lost against Croatia, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.

hummel Player of the Match: Marina Rajcic (Montenegro)