Impresive draw in Sevilla

Macedonia - Russia 29:29 (13:16)

Palacio de San Pablo, Seville

Macedonia perform in a tie against Russia. Macedonia and Russia lock horns in the most equal meeting of the four game days celebrated in Seville and they sealed their ticket for the last 16. Oleg Kuleshov's team controled the first half, meanwhile the Balkans managed to react after the break to level the scales with a meritable performance (29-29). In the first half, Macedonia noted the tight marking that Kiril Lazarov was subjected to, who achieved a modest 50% accuracy. The quality of the Russian Timur Dibirov, who hit the bullseye 7 times in 30 minutes, he tilted the game in their favour in the opening minutes (3-6, 8th minute). Russia, however, worsened and allowed a 10-10 tie at 19 minutes. Only an electric final few minutes put them ahead (13-16 at the break). The second half was spectacular. Dibirov faded in the wake of Macedonia and Dibirov struck again. At 26-26 a mere 9 minutes from the end caused the last few minutes to be pure madness, in which the Macedonians surged past the static defence and earnt a golden point.

Zvonko Shundovski (Macedonian head coach):

"It was a very beautiful game. We had character throughout the match. It was very hard work. Against Denmark we will have ourselves an even harder match".

Naumche Mojsovki (Macedonia):

"We had our best game of the tournament. Dibirov caused a lot of damage in the first half, but then we reacted".

Oleg Kuleshov (Russian head coach):

"For 15 or 16 minutes we were very uncomfortable. There were many differences between the first and second half. Their goalkeeper had a great game".

Dmitry Zhitnikov (Russia):

"It wasn't the best day for our team. We made too many errors. At points we weren't comfortable in the game".