Plenty of grit, a fiery defence and a very efficient attack helped Serbia to clinch the Men's 20 EHF EURO 2022 bronze medal with a straightforward win against Sweden, 30:26.
With four wins and a draw in seven games, this was a supreme performance at the M20 EHF EURO 2022 for Serbia, who clinched a medal for the first time in their history.
BRONZE MEDAL MATCH
Sweden vs Serbia 26:30 (12:17)
- 9:1 run between the fifth and the 20th minutes, spurred by two goals apiece from Milos Kos and Mateja Dodic, set the tone for the match, as Serbia took the lead and never looked back
- a strong start in the second half for Sweden saw the Scandinavian side cut the gap to two goals, thanks to a strong outing from right back Kasper Palmar, who scored five goals
- ushered in to help weather Sweden's comeback the second half, Serbia goalkeeper Marko Mrdovic finished the game with nine saves and an outstanding 50 per cent save efficiency
- once again, Serbia left back Milos Kos (eight goals) featured prominently for his side. He finished as the top scorer of the match and improved his tally in the tournament to 44 goals, enough to move up to joint-fourth place in the top scorer standings
- the four-goal gap is the third largest in a bronze medal match in this competition, after an eight-goal gap in 2000 between Spain and Denmark and a five-goal gap in 1998 between Hungary and Spain
Kos and Dodic inspire Serbia for historic medal
Serbia looked like they learnt a thing or two from their losses against France and Spain, where they started on the wrong foot and had to fight until the end. This time around, they jumped to an early 11:5 lead and never looked back, despite what Sweden threw at them.
Back in the early 2000s, Yugoslavia won three medals on the trot. As Serbia and Montenegro in 2006, the side finished fourth. But this bronze medal is truly like a gold for this Serbia team, who came out of nowhere to create history for the country.
With stalwarts like backs Milos Kos and Stefan Dodic, who scored a combined 73 goals in the tournament, Serbia have a bright future, especially with Dodic largely seen as one of the centre backs with the highest ceiling from the current crop of youngsters.
On the other hand, Sweden look like they simply cannot break through in crunch matches at the M20 EHF EURO. They lost two finals, in 2006 and 2014, and now they have lost the bronze medal match against Serbia.
