| Handball News |
Handball News  (23/01/2008) Swedes dash Spanish Euro hopes |
A thrilling goal in the dying seconds has sent Spain out of the running for the Euro title.
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Spain 27:26 Sweden (14:13)
The Swedish players danced on court, and jumped on Jonas Källman, celebrating a victory they never thought would be theirs.
In the last second Källman, who plays for the Spanish club Ciudad Real, scored the winning goal, taking the score to 27:26 against the Iberians.
The final seconds were the moments with the highest tension in this relatively low-level match that was played out neck and neck.
With the the score at 26:26 and 49 seconds before the end, Sweden received a seven metre throw, but Kim Andersson failed against the best Spanish player of today, goalkeeper Jose Hombrados.
Spain was in ball possession, but with one player less on the field after a suspension.
The Spanish started their attack, and eleven seconds before the end, Swedish player Ahlm also received a two minute suspension.
Again a free throw for Spain, five seconds to play.
A hard Romero shot was parried by goalkeeper, Tomas Svensson, and he immediately sent Källman on the fast break, shooting into the empty goal. Hombrados having been substituted for a court player.
With almost the final whistle Källman scored the winning goal.
Overall he was best Swedish scorer with eight goals.
Now Spain are out of the running for the semi final with 2:6 points, but Sweden (5:3 points) have a good chance of going further, mostly depending on their last Main Round match against Germany on Thursday.
Press statements
Ingemar Linnell (Swedish coach): “I’m totally satisfied with this result. We missed some penalties and very good chances, but in the end we are the lucky ones to win.”
Juan Carlos Pastor (Spanish coach): “It was an equal game to yesterday. Today we lost one second before the final whistle, against France it had been twelve seconds. Naturally we are very disappointed.”
Markus Ahlm (Swedish players): “It was a very exciting game with the better end for us. We just had to fight and in the last minute everything went so fast, but I’m very glad.”
Juan Garcia (Spanish player): “We were close to winning, but we again missed a victory like yesterday in the very last seconds.” |
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