LIVE BLOG: Sweden join Austria in fifth place match

• Men's 20 EHF EURO 2024 semi-finals and cross matches
• read reviews from day 1, day 2 and day 3 of the main, intermediate and elimination rounds
• all throw-off times in CET
• semi-finals (Arena Zlatorog):
  Denmark - Spain (18), Portugal - Germany (20:30)
• cross matches 5-8 (Arena Zlatorog):
  Austria - Norway 30:22; Sweden - Iceland 30:27
• cross matches 9-12 (Tri Lilije Lasko):
  Hungary - North Macedonia 26:27; France - Croatia (16:40)
• cross matches 13-16 (Tri Lilije Lasko):
  Romania - Serbia 29:31; Slovenia - Poland (19)
• cross matches 17-20 (Golovec):
  Switzerland - Czechia 39:33; Faroe Islands - Italy (19)
• cross matches 21-24 (Golovec):
  Israel - Montenegro 27:23; Greece - Ukraine (16:40)
• watch all the matches live on EHFTV (subject to geo-restrictions)
• follow the official EHF EURO socials on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook

16:11

Sweden's left back Pelle Segertoft was in fine form today, scoring eight goals in total. It wasn't easy, he says, being in the Swedish camp last night after a shocking conlusion to their game with Germany, which saw them miss out on a semi-final spot.

16:04

Israel will play Greece or Ukraine for 21th place, and North Macedonia await France or Croatia for ninth.

16:02 | FULL-TIME

HUNGARY - NORTH MACEDONIA 26:27

Dimitar Uzunchev was man of the match in North Macedonia's win against Hungary, scoring three goals in the last eight minutes (seven in total). There wasn't enough time for the Hungarians in the last attack to force a penalty shootout.

15:54 | FULL-TIME

ISRAEL - MONTENEGRO 27:23

Israel slowed the pace down in the final stages of the match, so Montenegro were able to narrow the gap and make their loss perhaps visually more acceptable.

15:53 | FULL-TIME

SWEDEN - ICELAND 30:27

Månsson's goal in the final seconds of the attack for 29:26 proved decisive and then Skoog's save definitely nailed it for the Swedes.

That was Månsson's seventh goal of the game, while Pelle Segertoft scored eight and Skoog accumulated an impressive 16 saves (40 per cent success rate).

Sweden will therefore play Austria for fifth place, and Iceland will try to grab seventh against Norway.

15:44

Timeout Iceland as Sweden score two goals in a row (27:25). A little over five minutes left in the match.

15:43

North Macedonia now with a two-goal cushion against Hungary (22:20). Final 12 minutes there.

15:42

You've got to hand it to both teams who are obviously tired from yesterday's matches, but their intensity today is still quite high.

With seven minutes until the final buzzer Iceland have caught up with Sweden, it's 25:25.

15:38

Goalkeepers are putting up a show right now! First Breki Árnason saves Björkman's shot from six metres, and then Arvid Skoog stops Arnarson's from outside. Sweden still lead, but Iceland are only a goal behind (24:23).

15:30

The match in Tri Lilije resumed a few minutes later. Hungary with a minimal edge over North Macedonia there (19:18).

15:29

Monumental save from Skoog with Viðarsson sprinting towards him in fast break, but Iceland eventually do score and now it's only a two-goal game, 22:20.

15:26

Three wasted possessions in a row now for Iceland, but it is Sweden's head coach who calls timeout. He's probably sensing this is a crucial period of the game where they can break Iceland's resistance. The scoreboard says 22:18.

15:23

With 20 minutes to go in Golovec I guess it's all over. Israel have a huge 22:12 lead over Montenegro. Sharon and Gonen have scored five goals each.

15:21

Sweden's Adrian Källhage lost a shoe while jumping for the shot from the wing. He picked it up from the floor and sprinted off to the bench, while holding it in his hand. He was back for the next offensive play though. Sweden lead 21:16.

15:11

We're back in Arena Zlatorog for the second half between Sweden and Iceland.

15:00 | HALF-TIME

HUNGARY - NORTH MACEDONIA 16:14

ISRAEL - MONTENEGRO 16:9

Evenly contested match in Tri Lilije between Hungary and North Macedonia. Macedonians were two goals up, but at the break it is Hungary with the same lead.

Montenegro will obviously have to wait yet another day to grab their first win of the tournament. Israel are in full control with a 50 per cent success rate from their goalkeeper Tal Peled.

14:56 | HALF-TIME

SWEDEN - ICELAND 18:13

Sweden leave the court at the break with their highest lead thanks to a late goal from Felix Montebovi.

14:48

Sweden have lost their offensive flow in the last few minutes, but luckily for them Arvid Skoog on goal is in fine form with eight saves out of 16 shots. Still, their head coach called timeout.

Swedes lead 13:10, six and a half minutes left in the first period.

14:42

Another poor start from Montenegro. Israel are already 9:3 ahead.

Hungary and North Macedonia are still testing each other in a way. No large gaps so far, Macedonians lead 8:7.

14:40

Timeout didn't exactly help Iceland as Sweden further increased their advantage. Elisson's delightful finish from the wing followed so it's 11:7 now to the Swedes.

14:34

Fantastic zeppelin goal by Sweden. Månsson with the assist and Andersson with the goal from the six-metre line. Sweden lead 9:6.

14:32

Israel with an early lead against Montenegro (5:2), who have recorded defeats in all matches so far. Hungary and North Macedonia are level (3:3).

14:29

It's not easy to keep track of all the goals right now. Sweden lead 7:4 after eight and a half minutes. It's a pretty open and fast-paced game so far.

14:20

Match is under way. Iceland finished their main round group on bottom with one point, while Sweden probably already saw themselves in the semi-finals, but came up short against Germany last night. They were up by three goals, but then went goalless in the final six minutes. It ended with a draw which meant Germany took the semi-final spot.

In today's first match in Zlatorog Arena it was Austria with more energy and motivation to win, who will have those two factors in the second match?

14:00

Coming up at 14:20, in Arena Zlatorog Sweden meet Iceland in the other cross match 5-8. Austria already beat Norway and await the winner of this upcoming match, while Norway will play the loser for seventh place.

At the same time in Tri Lilije Hungary and North Macedonia begin cross matches 9-12 and in Golovec Israel and Ukraine hope to avoid the match for 23rd place.

13:44

Here's what one of Austria's heroes today had to say:

13:32 | FULL-TIME

ROMANIA - SERBIA 29:31

SWITZERLAND - CZECHIA 39:33

Serbia stay in contention for 13th place thanks to a crucial 5:0 run midway through the second half, whereas Switzerland will fight for 17th place after a phenomenal second half which saw them score 23 goals.

13:24 | FULL-TIME

AUSTRIA - NORWAY 30:22

Like I said in the opening minutes, it was pretty obvious that the Austrians wanted this win more. In the first half Norway somehow stayed in touch with them, but in the next 30 minutes they were completely physically and emotionally empty. At one point Austria had an 11 goal lead (30:19).

Austria will play the winner of Sweden - Iceland tomorrow for fifth place, while Norway will play the loser of that match for seventh.

13:15

Excellent work today from Austria's goalkeeper Leon Bergmann, who's saved 12 shots (44.4 per cent success rate). His participation in this match is over, however, as his head coach decided to give a rare chance to Marko Bogojevic between the posts.

13:13

Nikola Zoric's saves are finally paying off to Serbia who take a 24:22 lead over Romania after four straight goals.

Switzerland are closing in on victory against Czechia (27:23).

13:10

Norway are running out of gas, focus and probably motivation. Austria's lead is increasing by the minute, it's now 24:15 as we reach the final 15 minutes.

13:02

Bright start from Czechia in the second half as they put their nose in front against Switzerland (21:18). It's still a tight battle between Romania and Serbia (19:18).

Austria are showing no signs of slowing down, Norway is now down by eight goals (20:12) although Austria have two players with two-minute suspensions at the moment.

12:57

And now it's seven! Huber scores from fast break and forces Norway's head coach to call timeout once again (18:11).

12:56

Huge moment in Celje as Möstl scores to put Austria six goals in front of Norway, 17:11. That's their biggest advantage today.

12:50

Second half is under way.

12:35 | HALF-TIME

AUSTRIA - NORWAY 14:10

Austrians have more energy and freshness, which combined with their excellent defence gives them a four-goal lead at the break. Norwegians seem kind of deflated and it could have been worse for them as Austrians shortly held a five-goal lead.

ROMANIA - SERBIA 15:15

For only a moment Serbia were up by two goals, but the first half ended the way it started - with both teams tied.

SWITZERLAND - CZECHIA 16:15

Switzerland hang on to a slim advantage, having almost completely let their five-goal lead (14:9) slip away.

12:26

Romania and Serbia are again tied (11:11), with no team having a lead bigger than a goal.

Valentin Wolfisberg's four goals have helped Switzerland move away from Czechia a little bit (13:9).

12:24

First timeout of the match and no wonder it's the Norwegian bench with the call. For the first time Austrians have a four-goal lead (11:7). Austria have eight different scorers and their goalkeeper Leon Bergmann has saved 50 per cent of shots so far (7/14)!

12:18

Norway are trying to get something going here, but the Austrians look solid in defence and good enough upfront. They lead 9:6.

12:11

Nothing to separate Serbia and Romania so far (5:5), Switzerland with a minimal lead over Czechia (6:5).

12:08

In these types of matches, when teams are probably disappointed not to have qualified for the semi-finals, a question of motivation is always brought up.

Judging by their expressions and body language, it seems as though the Austrians are slightly more motivated than the Norwegians at the moment. They've scored the first three goals of the match and now lead 5:2.

Also, it's worth noting that the Austrians had some four or five hours of rest more than Norway after their respective matches on Thursday.

12:00

Austria finished third in their main round group, having lost to Spain and Portugal and beaten Iceland. Norway dropped to cross matches after yesterday's loss to Denmark, which left them in last place of their group. First possession to the Austrians.

11:50

At 12:00 we also have two more scheduled matches. Romania - Serbia in Tri Lilije (cross match 13-16) and Switzerland - Czechia in Golovec (17-20).

11:44

First semi-final between Portugal and Germany starts at 18:00 CET in Arena Zlatorog in Celje, but before that we will have two cross matches 5-8. Starting at 12:00, Austria play Norway, and then from 14:20 we have Sweden against Iceland. 

11:40

Also, here's our preview of today's semi-final matches Portugal - Germany, which is a rematch of their clash in the preliminary round, and Denmark - Spain, where the Danes are looking for revenge after the Spaniards beat them last year in the IHF Men’s Youth World Championship final.

11:36

Before we turn our attention to today's matches, take a look what happened on Thursday on the final main round day.

11:30

Good day everyone and welcome to semi-finals day of M20 EHF EURO 2024 in Celje! Portugal, Germany, Denmark and Spain still dream of gold medal glory, while all the other teams will try to end the tournament in the highest position possible through cross matches.