Jesper Jensen's team could not make a break in the first 30 minutes and were even behind, but when they got their engines going, Denmark secured an important 33:26 win.
Denmark will fight for their third consecutive semi-final place against the Netherlands on Thursday. Slovenia pushed their limits and with boosted confidence after a great fight are waiting to conclude their Women's EHF EURO 2024 journey against Germany.
GROUP II
Denmark vs Slovenia 33:26 (17:15)
- Denmark did not showcase their usual play in the first 15 minutes of the game, and turnovers gave Slovenia an 8:7 lead after Tjaša Stanko assisted beautifully to Elena Erceg on the right wing
- Slovenia's defensive movement and strong middle made Denmark sweat throughout the first half — they only managed to wrestle back the lead in the 29th minute with the help of Andrea Aagot Hansen
- Jesper Jensen tried to shake things up with seven-against-six play and 5-1 defence at the start of the second half, but Slovenia were keeping it level or with a narrow gap
- things started to go awry for Slovenia in the last 15 minutes — technical faults and good Sandra Toft reactions between the posts pushed Denmark to a decisive 29:24 lead in the 52nd minute
- Stanko and Nataša Ljepoja were Slovenia's best players, netting eight and six goals, respectively; Stanko picked up her third Player of the Match award of the tournament, presented by Grundfos, and went back to the top of the overall top scorer standings with a total of 45 strikes
- wing players Elma Halilcevic and Andrea Aagot Hansen together scored 11 times for Denmark
Toft to the rescue
When Jesper Jensen announced his squad for the Women's EHF EURO 2024 everyone was surprised that Sandra Toft, the EHF EURO All-star Team goalkeeper in 2016 and 2020, was not on the list. The seasoned goalkeeper has been part of all four of Denmark's major tournament medals, but was set to miss this European championship.
However, after Althea Reinhardt was hit in the head at training ahead of the game against Slovenia, Jesper Jensen called Toft in to help the team until Reinhardt recovers. And Toft did not disappoint in her 44th EHF EURO match.
Slovenia were doing their best and challenged Denmark hard, and it was Toft's saves that pushed Denmark towards a more stable attack as they finally made a break in the 47th minute. At that moment, Toft had six saves at 50 per cent save efficiency; she finished with six stops from 17 shots (35 per cent).
We played a little bit under stress in the first half. I think we tried too much. We would like to put the pressure on them by running, but we took some pretty unfocused shots in the first half. I think we set a little bit better in the second half and that made Slovenia fight for the goals a little bit more.
I’m very proud of all the girls that played today. We showed our fighting spirit and confidence. It was clear in the first half we are enjoying playing this game and Denmark were struggling. Unfortunately, our strength declined in the second half and they showed their experience. Despite losing there were a lot of good things and we have a good ground to build on in the future.
