Arriving in Sweden with the rank of world champion, the Russian team behaved in accordance with the rank. Become an early immigrant in the main round, and with a credit of 4 points, the students of Yevgeny Trefilov and Vitaliy Krokhin were unexpectedly helped in the preliminary group by the teams of Croatia and Sweden. Having made way for the Russian car, they alternately beat the bronze medalist of the Olympic Athens - the national team of Ukraine.
The collapse of the yellow-blakitnyh became a fact in dramatic circumstances. The victory goal in their goal, Croatian leader Maida Arslanagich (daughter of the phenomenal goalkeeper of the national team of Yugoslavia) threw to the sound of the final siren, which became the death knell of the hopes of the eminent Leonid Ratner team.
Thus, the Sunday match expected by the main in the preliminary stage against the Ukrainians absolutely did not mean anything for the Russians in the tournament sense. They conducted it in a relaxing spirit: without resting leaders, they did not bother too much with defensive cares and pretty much replenished scoring accounts.
More indicative for assessing the readiness of the Trefilov’s army was the day before the match against the hostesses of the tournament. It turned out to be akin to a meeting of fighters of different weight categories - both figuratively and literally. The slender Swedes, having met a tall defensive fence set in accordance with the 6-0 scheme, surrendered as soon as the battle began. For 20 starting minutes, only two goals have been in the gates of the Russian national team. Her power impressed not only rivals ...
Group C
Results. Russia - Croatia - 27:22. Sweden - Ukraine - 22:18. Croatia - Ukraine - 24:23. Russia - Sweden - 30:15. Russia - Ukraine - 40:32. Croatia - Sweden - 21:20. Total. RUSSIA - 6, CROATIA - 4, SWEDEN - 2, Ukraine - 0.
The Russian team in the preliminary round matches: Elena Polenova - 14 goals / 3 matches, Ekaterina Andryushina - 12/3 , Zhanna Yakovleva - 11/3 , Irina Poltoratskaya - 9/2, Lyudmila Bodnieva - 8/2, Lyudmila Postnova - 7/3, Emilia Turey - 7/3, Ekaterina Marennikova - 6/2, Oksana Romenskaya - 6/3, Irina Bliznova - 5/3, Natalya Shipilova - 5/3, Anna Kareeva - 4/3, Polina Vyakhireva - 3/1, Olga Levina - 0/1; goalkeepers: Maria Sidorova - 3 matches, Inna Suslina - 3.
Of the plots in other preliminary quartets, the “spin” in group D can be considered the most significant for the Russians. Fighting around, the Spanish, French and Danes released the Russian team into the single leaders of the formed group 2 of the main round. And this objectively increases the chances of the Trefilov team to one of the semifinal places.
In the other six, everything is normal: with a one hundred percent result from the preliminary stage, the teams of Hungary and Norway easily went there.
Leaving the championship ahead of schedule, in addition to the mentioned Ukrainians, Serbs, Slovenes and Dutch. All these are ambitious teams with characters and recognizable handwritings. And everyone perceives such an outcome as a serious failure, damage to reputation.
The main of the pleasant surprises is the result of the Macedonian national team. During the time that the European Championships were played in the current format, she did not climb so high in them, but did not make her way to the last three.
The main factor in the progress of the Macedonians was the appearance in their ranks of Marina Naukovich. In three matches of the “pre-match” she has 25 goals (one more is only for the German Nadine Krause). The athletic 27-year-old welterweight, who previously played for the Volgograd “Aqua” and the Russian national team, spent the last three seasons in the Croatian “Koprivnitsa”. In the spring, the Croats firmly headed for the naturalization of the scorer in their country. But in the summer, she unexpectedly ended up in the Macedonian "Cometal", and then in a matter of months, Marina was issued the citizenship of another Balkan state.
In the new team, Naukovich has someone to communicate in his native language. Ex-Soviet handball education in symbiosis with Macedonian passports helps Olga Kolesnik, Angela Platon, Julia Portyanko, Tatyana Andreeva to be in sight. The national team of Macedonia has been training for the fourth year now, the Ukrainian Andrei Portnoy, who often stumbles into Russian even during timeouts.
Spaniards looked absolutely equal to eminent and experienced Danes and French women. This is also a surprise presented by a young team led by the youngest coach of the tournament - 33-year-old Miguel Florido Martinez. The Spanish national team with the other helmsmen made the same expressive and pace game two or three years ago - at the World Cup and the Olympics. Then it seemed to cool. Probably just waiting for this coaching debut ...
Group A
Results. Macedonia - Serbia - 25:23. Hungary - Austria - 42:23. Austria - Serbia - 32:27. Hungary - Macedonia - 30:22. Austria - Macedonia - 28:25. Hungary - Serbia - 35:27. Total. HUNGARY - 6, AUSTRIA - 4, MACEDONIA - 2, Serbia - 0.
Group B
Results. Germany - Poland - 30:20. Norway - Slovenia - 43:20. Germany - Slovenia - 31:30. Norway - Poland - 32:21. Poland - Slovenia - 34:30. Norway - Germany - 27:22. Total. NORWAY - 6, GERMANY - 4, POLAND - 2, Slovenia - 0.
Group D
Results. Spain - Holland - 26:16. France - Denmark - 24:20. Spain - France - 28:24. Denmark - Holland - 30:23. Denmark - Spain - 27:24. France - Holland - 28:26. Total. SPAIN - 4, FRANCE - 4, DENMARK - 4, Holland - 0.
Main Round Offset
Group 1. Hungary, Norway - 4 each, Austria. Germany - 2, Macedonia, Poland - 0.
Group 2. Russia - 4, Spain, France, Denmark, Croatia - 2 each, Sweden - 0.