Difficult task for the Russian national team

On the eve of the final round of the main round of the World Championship, the situation in Group IV was confused to the limit, because four teams were competing for two tickets to the quarterfinals: Sweden, Egypt, Russia and Slovenia. 

The hosts of the tournament hosted the Slovenes on Sunday and achieved a draw that suits them - 25:25.

After that, the Egyptians could no longer fall below the second place.

The domestic team had to determine the owner of the second ticket to the playoffs in a head-to-head match.

At the same time, Velimir Petkovich's wards needed only a victory, while the opponent was happy with a draw.

It was impossible to call the Russians favorites of the meeting.

In recent years, the Scandinavians have looked a lot stronger, for example, in 2018 they reached the final of the European Championship, while the team of Eduard Koksharov did not even qualify for this tournament. 

The statistics of the confrontation of rivals did not inspire optimism either.

The last time Russia beat Sweden was almost nine years ago in a friendly match.

At the official level, the domestic team was defeated every time. 

However, at the current World Cup "Tre Krunur" showed that it is also capable of making mistakes.

Initially, in sextet IV, the Scandinavians were considered clear favorites, but they themselves made life difficult for themselves, having parted ways with Belarus (26:26) and Slovenia (28:28). 

In turn, Petkovic's wards, after losing to Egypt (23:28), confidently beat North Macedonia (32:20) and were determined to get into the top 8 strongest teams of the world championship for the first time since 2013.

“How can you oppose the speed of the Swedes?

Our character and mobility.

After the game, he told the peasants that we had nothing to lose and that we should try to reach the quarterfinals.

We have everything for this, "- quotes the words of Petkovich" Handball.

Fast Center ".

Failed first half

Unfortunately, from the first minutes it became obvious that the Russians were not ready for a decisive confrontation.

They failed to demonstrate the character of which Petkovich spoke. 

It is enough that the Russians managed to score the first goal only at the end of the seventh minute, having already conceded three by that time.

The gates of the experienced Andreas Palitsky were struck by Dmitry Kiselev.

Soon Igor Soroka managed to excel, but by that time the opponents had scored two more goals - 2: 5.

The Swedes quickly came off the score again.

The Scandinavians just looked stronger than the opponent and much faster.

They carried out multi-way fast attacks, which the defenders could not cope with.

Hence, a large number of violations of the rules.

In the first half, Hampus Vanne alone converted four seven-meters.

In total, he had six goals in his assets at the end of the first half.

In the attack, the Russians also did not succeed.

They perceptibly lacked the speed to overcome the saturated defensive lines of the opponent.

Once again, only young Sergey Mark Kosorotov looked like a bright spot in the team's game.

The left welterweight "Chekhov Bears" and handed out tricky passes to partners, and earned deletions.

But his efforts were clearly not enough.

Often, domestic handball players were forced to make shots from a long distance, allowing Palitski to increase the number of saves.

Moreover, they have realized only one seven-meter out of three.

The advantage of the Swedes in the account grew rapidly.

At the end of the first half of the meeting, they managed to bring it to ten points.

Petkovich's players had no chances for such a game.

But shortly before the break Igor Soroka and Dmitry Kornev scored two goals in a row and somewhat improved the mood of the fans - 8:17. 

Failed comeback attempt

The beginning of the second half was also encouraging.

As part of the Russian national team, right welterweight Alexander Kotov played out.

After Andreev's goal, he made two accurate throws.

Thus, the domestic team managed to reduce the gap in the score to six goals - 11:17.

But in the rival's line-up there was a scorer Lucas Pellas, who was not so noticeable in the first half of the match.

He managed to distinguish himself three times in a row and return the Swedes to a more comfortable advantage in the score.

Following Kotov scored the third goal in the second half, but the Scandinavians responded to this with a whole series of their quick effective attacks.

Finally, everything became clear when the favorite scored twice in the majority after the removal of Alexander Ermakov.

Sweden's gap again exceeded ten points, and the Russians resigned themselves to a major defeat.

Only Kotov continued to create problems for the opponents on the right flank.

As a result, with five goals, he became the most productive handball player in the Russian national team.

Linear Denis Vasilyev also played out, scoring three goals.

But Kosorotov in the second half was almost invisible.  

Closer to the final siren, Glenn Solberg gave the reservists playing time, but this did not affect the course of the match.

The Swedes finished it with a 14 point lead.

In each half they managed to score 17 times.

Eight goals were scored by Pellas, six to Vanne.

The Russians in the second half looked more interesting in attack, but this did not help them escape from the biggest defeat in the tournament.

Petkovic's wards had the opportunity to make it to the quarterfinals, but failed to take advantage of the opportunity presented and will have to leave the tournament ahead of schedule.