Spain grab last semi-final ticket at M19 EHF EURO

Spain became the fourth and last team to qualify for the semi-finals of the Men's 19 EHF EURO 2021 following a 32:25 win over already eliminated Iceland to close the main round on Wednesday evening.

Two hours earlier, Slovenia and Germany also advanced, while hosts Croatia had already secured their semi-final spot the day before.

Germany face Spain in the first semi-final on Friday at 17:30 CEST, followed by Slovenia taking on Croatia in the second semi at 20:00 CEST (both matches live on EHFTV).

MAIN ROUND GROUP I:

Sweden vs Slovenia 29:32 (15:16)

• Sweden recovered from a slow start – 3:0 down in less than two minutes – and the match remained close until 27:27 with three minutes left to play
• a 3:0 run to go 30:27 up gave Slovenia, led by eight goals from Andraz Makuz, the edge
• Elliot Stenmalm’s 13 goals were not enough for Sweden, who could still qualify at that time if Spain would lose the latter game against Iceland

Spain vs Iceland 32:25 (16:12)

• a day after their spectacular 37:37 draw with Slovenia, Spain got the win against Iceland they needed to overtake Sweden in the group standings
• Spain led by up to six goals in the first half and even by 10 (31:21) in the second as they were in control of the match from the beginning
• Jan Gurri Aregay netted a perfect seven from seven for Spain

MAIN ROUND GROUP II:

Portugal vs Denmark 31:27 (17:12)

• failing to recover from a poor first half, Denmark lost sight on a possible semi-final spot with a four-goal defeat against already eliminated Portugal
• hours later it turned out that even a win over Portugal would not have been enough for Denmark due to the result in the other, late group game
• Antonio Machado led for Portugal with eight goals

Croatia vs Germany 23:26 (9:13)

• Germany knew before the match they were in the semi-finals after rivals Denmark had lost in the earlier group game
• the German side still fired on all cylinders in the opening phase against Croatia, building a 10:3 lead in the first 17 minutes
• Croatia had a 4:0 run to level the score early in the second half, but the hosts never got in front and had their unbeaten run ended

INTERMEDIATE ROUND GROUP III:

Israel vs Italy 23:29 (12:16)
Hungary vs Serbia 31:26 (15:13)

INTERMEDIATE ROUND GROUP IV:

Austria vs Norway 26:29 (10:14)
France vs Russia 36:17 (17:7)