The Macedonian national handball team beat Switzerland yesterday 29:28 and denied them a place in the European Championship.

The Swiss were more than eager to win the game and made derisive proclamations about the Macedonian team ahead of the game. This cost them, as it motivated our players, especially goal-keeper Nikola Mitrevski who was unbeatable in the second half of the game.

Macedonia was initially down 5:8, prompting Kire Lazarov to take a time-out and make changes to the line-up, which quickly showed and the result was 16:16 at half-time.

Our attack was not always on point in the second half, but Mitrevski made up for the misses by denying the Swiss on the goal line. Pesevski and Lazarov took Macedonia to a three goal lead near the end, but the visiting team narrowed it down to 1. Still, their late comeback was not enough to win the game and a place at the 2022 European Championship.

Macedonia scored its fifth win in six games, is ranked second in the group, behind Denmark and has qualified for the Championship.