A brave Bosnian performance produced a result much closer than expected in an extremely slow match between the defending champions and the already eliminated Balkan side in Bratislava. Spain – already qualified for the main round – finally won 28:24 after Bosnia and Herzegovina were ahead until minute 45.
Thanks to the close victory, Spain have extended their impressive series to 15 unbeaten EHF EURO matches in a row. Their last defeat was on 23 January 2018, when they lost 26:31 in the main round against Slovenia. The Bosnians still have to wait for their first ever EHF EURO point after their sixth defeat in six matches.
GROUP E
Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Spain 24:28 (14:12)
- with outstanding goalkeeper and Grundfos Player of the Match Benjamin Buric posting an incredible first-half scoring percentage of 78 per cent, the Bosnians were ahead at the break – for the first time ever in their sixth EHF EURO match
- Spain rested many regular players including goalkeeper Rodrigo Corrales, who was not even in the team list – and they played without any speed before the break, after less than eight minutes in the dressing room, they returned to the court
- but the Bosnian hunger was not stilled. Keeping the speed extremely low in attack, they managed to lull the Spanish defence and pulled ahead to 20:17 in minute 43
- Spain coach Jordi Ribera had seen enough. He changed goalkeeper from Sergey Hernandez to Gonzalo Perez de Vargas, and forced his players to play faster. Spain’s top scorer Agustin Cassado (seven strikes in total) eventually netted for their first advance in the second half (23:22)
- despite the loud support from the fans in the Ondrej Nepela Arena, the Bosnians ran out of power in the final stages. Though Spain missed a huge number of chances, they finally took the win
Bosnian journey ends in style
Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified for their second EHF EURO tournament in 2022 after reaching the EHF EURO 2020. But again, the journey ended after the preliminary stage. Two years ago, they lost all three matches against top nations France, Norway and Portugal. This time they were defeated by Spain, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
Like many other teams, the Bosnians were hit hard by Covid, but in contrast to others the depth of the squad was not as huge. But in the match against the defending champions and after a strong 45 minutes against the Czechs, Ivica Obrvan’s team proved that they belong among the 24 best European nations.
