Slovenia staged a hard-fought comeback to record a narrow win against Iceland in the first Semi-Final at the 2015 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship. 

Iceland vs Slovenia 30:31 (15:11)

For the first 40 minutes it seemed a Slovenia victory was impossible, but they proved to Iceland that handball is a 60-minute game to earn the win in the end.

It was a completely one-sided opening that saw Iceland record a 4:0 run with three fast breaks (one from left wing Hakon Styrmission (seven goals) and two from right wing Oeinn Rikhardsson) and a breakthrough on a counter attack by left back Egill Magnusson.

At that point Slovenia coach Klemencic Janez inevitably called a time-out, after which Blaz Janc (11 goals) scored their first goal with an effective but unusually slow one-on-one breakthrough from the ordinarily full-throttle right back (4:1). Iceland’s 5-1 defence really slowed Slovenia’s pace, allowing the Scandinavian team to play fast while their opponent struggled without their biggest weapon: speed. 

Egill Magnusson scored his second over Slovenia’s defence to put the score at 5:1 just after the clock ticked past five minutes, before Gal Marguc struck for Slovenia as they worked to close the score line (5:2).

Captain Jaka Malus – usually one of their most dangerous attackers with the ball, who was kept very quiet by the Iceland defence – put his first in the goal in the seventh minute (5:3) and it seemed Slovenia were finally settling in. 
After a messy few minutes Styrmission reminded everyone how to play, running a fast break and scoring a tricky lob shot straight over 200 cm Urh Kastelic (8:4, 17th minute). 

After an Iceland time-out, Slovenia came back with Janc scoring his fourth to take them one behind (9:8), but his goal was answered and Iceland edged ahead once more with a perfect fast break scored in partnership between Rikhardsson and Styrmission putting Iceland three in front (11:8). 

Kastelic, who made 13 saves in the first half, and Janc were keeping their side in touch almost single-handedly. Janc closed the gap to two in the 25th (11:9), but Slovenia could not find the extra push they needed and Iceland held a four-goal advantage at the break. 

Gretar Gudjonsson began the second half by saving Slovenia’s first attack, and everything seemed to be going right for Iceland. Five minutes into the second period Iceland maintained their four-goal lead (17:13), until a superb goal from right wing Nejc Planinc took the score line to two (18:16). 

At the 40-minute mark Slovenia took the deficit to one (19:18), but Magnusson used his height to score over the defence and keep their advantage (20:18, 42nd). Iceland were awarded a penalty that meant they had a three-goal advantage as the game moved into its last 15 minutes (22:19). 

But it was not over. Line player Darko Stojnic took Slovenia two behind as the match entered its last 10 minutes (25:23), then Aleks Kavcic broke through and suddenly Iceland were in danger (25:24, 51st minute). Malus struck and Iceland missed the shot in the next attack, enabling Janc to level the score for the first time in the 54th (26:26). Magnusson then scored a penalty and though Slovenia were closer than they had been, they were still chasing. 

When the score was level at 27:27 Kastelic made a crucial save and Janc broke through for Slovenia to take the lead (27:28, 56th). Styrmission completely missed the goal on a wing shot in Iceland’s next attack, and Malus put Slovenia two in front (27:29, 57th). 

Styrmission struck for Iceland in the 58th before Egill Magnusson scored a back shot that meant there was a one-goal difference heading into the last 60 seconds (29:30). Iceland tried man on man but Kavcic found his way to the six-metre line to score the victory-sealing goal.   

Iceland coach Gudmundsson talked about how they slowed Slovenia’s pace:

“That’s out 5-1 defence. We have tall, fast players. We are very fast too. We had 13 goals in fast breaks today, as normal, so we like to play fast. We used more players than they did so we wanted to play fast. In the end they had more power and won.

“They got some easy goals we missed. I was not pleased – we missed two or three chances when we were six against five; that was crucial for us,” concluded Gudmundsson, with his thoughts on the last ten minutes.