Injury-hit Serbia face decisive double-header

The 2013 World Championship runners-up failing to qualify for the Women's EHF EURO 2014 was hardly an imaginable scenario at the beginning of the road to Hungary and Croatia, but Serbia are effectively on the brink of unfathomable failure should they slip up in either of their final two Group 5 games away at Switzerland and at home to Slovenia.

With Sweden and Slovenia in the driving seat on six points from four games each, Serbia – who have four points from as many games – must first dismiss the Swiss, who have lost all their matches.

If that goes according to script, they will in all likelihood be required to beat Slovenia in the cauldron of the Cair Hall in Nis in order to reach the 16-nation tournament in December.

Playmaker Andrea Lekic and prolific left back Sanja Damnjanovic are battling to shake off niggling injuries ahead of the crunch double-header but coach Sasa Boskovic was confident they would recover in time for Serbia’s moment of truth.

"They have played through pain before and I am convinced they will do it again if they have to," Boskovic told a news conference in Belgrade.

"We are halfway through to EHF EURO 2014 and while our first priority is to get there, our long-term goal remains to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

"We made a mess of things in the 26:31 defeat by Slovenia in the early stages of qualifying, but we have enough time to prepare for what’s coming. We have to take it one step at a time though because the Swiss will be no pushovers, especially on home court.

"However, we are the world vice-champions and it’s down to us if we are on top of our game."

Tight defence and fast breaks

Much will depend on how effectively Serbia’s wide players can exploit space on the flanks and right wing Katarina Krpez assessed that ironclad defence was the recipe for success.

"We slipped up against the Slovenians because we underestimated them and have only ourselves to blame for being in this position. They are a good side but I am convinced that we can overhaul their advantage if we play tight defence and make the most of fast breaks," she said.

Defence specialist Jelena Eric (pictured above), who came out of international retirement in March to help her country pull through a difficult qualifying group, echoed Boskovic’s view that the Serbians should not get ahead of themselves in the home straight.

"Switzerland away will be a tough prospect and only after we have crossed that bridge can we start thinking about Slovenia. We made too many simple mistakes against the Slovenians and must work hard in practice to make sure we don’t repeat them."

"The way we played in our two draws against Sweden is a good basis for the last two fixtures and with a full house in Nis, we can pull it off and earn our European Championship berth."