Croatia take points from Spain

After the first twelve games were carried out on Wednesday, the last two matches of the EHF EURO 2010 qualification 2, Round 3, were played on Thursday 10 February 2011.

Group 2

Lithuania vs. Romania 24:23 (13:10)

After performing rather weakly at the World Championships in Sweden, Romania still have not reached their normal form. Starting the match as favourites they surprisingly lost in Lithuania. After their third defeat and zero points on their account, they have already at this stage failed to qualify for the EHF EURO 2012. On the other side, Lithuania were able to celebrate their first points in this campaign. Top scorer for the hosts was Andrius Rackauskas with five goals, Daniel Muresan scored six times for Romania.

Spain vs. Croatia 24:26 (9:8)

After missing the medals at the World Championship in Sweden, Croatia could now enjoy a victory that was very important for their confidence. By winning in the lion’s den of Ciudad Real the Balkan team made a huge step towards the EHF EURO 2012 in their neighbour country Serbia. With six points on the bank the team of coach Slavko Goluza now only need one point in the return match on Sunday in Split to book their ticket. Having four points, Spain still have best chances to qualify from this group. The Iberians had a close lead at halftime as their goalkeeper Arpad Sterbik saved over 50 percent of the Croatian shots. The Spanish defence worked well, but in attack the hosts missed too many chances. In second half Spain first extended the lead to 12:8, before Croatia equalized to 15:15. Thanks to the goals of Damir Bicancic the Balkan team took a two-goal lead. Spain changing the goalkeeper to Hombrados did not change the match, Croatia decided the game with a three goal lead (23:20) in minute 55.

Qualification schedule

Round 4 of the qualification is already coming up this weekend with the following matches:

GROUP 1

Saturday 12 March 2011, 17:15 hrs, Visoko (BIH)
Bosnia Herzegovina vs. Estonia

Sunday 13 March 2011, 16:45 hrs, Veszprem (HUN)
Hungary vs. FYR Macedonia

GROUP 2

Sunday 13 March 2011, 17:45 hrs, Split (CRO)
Croatia vs. Spain

Sunday 13 March 2011, 18:30 hrs, Constanta (ROU)
Romania vs. Lithuania

GROUP 3

Saturday 12 March 2011, 14:30 hrs, Zielona Gora (POL)
Poland vs. Slovenia

Sunday 13 March 2011, 17:00 hrs, Zaporozhye (UKR)
Ukraine vs. Portugal

GROUP 4

Sunday 13 March 2011, 18:00 hrs, Niksic (MNE)
Montenegro vs. Israel

Sunday 13 March 2011, 18:10 hrs, Stockholm (SWE)
Sweden vs. Slovakia

GROUP 5

Saturday 12 March 2011, 20:25 hrs, Schwechat (AUT)
Austria vs. Latvia

Sunday 13 March 2011, 17:45 hrs, Halle (GER)
Germany vs. Iceland

GROUP 6

Saturday 12 March 2011, 19:00 hrs, Rotterdam (NED)
Netherlands vs. Greece

Sunday 13 March 2011, 19:10 hrs, Stavanger (NOR)
Norway vs. Czech Republic

GROUP 7

Saturday 12 March 2011, 20:15 hrs, Horsens (DEN)
Denmark vs. Russia

Sunday 13 March 2011, 15:00 hrs, Minsk (BLR)
Belarus vs. Switzerland

The qualification continues with the last two rounds 5 and 6, which will be carried out on 08/09 and 11/12 June 2011. The final tournament draw will take place on 15 June 2011 in Belgrade.