Denmark is now dreaming of a World Cup triple
World-class duel: Spain goalkeeper Gonzalo Perez de Vargas against Denmark’s Mikkel Hansen (left)
Quelle: dpa/Piotr Hawalej
Denmark has again entered the final of the Handball World Championship. Although the defending champion lost a comfortable lead against Spain, he came back in time in the closing stages. The third title in a row is now against France. The French gave Sweden no chance.
Tth defender Denmark and record champion France fight for the crown at the Handball World Championship. The gold winner of 2019 and 2021 qualified for the final on Sunday in Stockholm with a 26:23 (15:10) against the European Championship runners-up Spain. In the second semi-final, the Olympic champion and six-time world champion from France beat European champion Sweden 31:26 (16:12) and thus destroyed the title dreams of the co-host.
In front of 19,128 fans in the Stockholm Arena, the Équipe Tricolore, where the German team had already failed in the quarter-finals, impressively demonstrated their class. Unimpressed by the noisy crowd, coach Guillaume Gille’s team opened up a four-goal lead in the final stages of the first half and did not allow the Swedes, who were sorely missing injured playmaker Jim Gottfridsson, to come close.
Denmark’s handball players are just one step away from their third world title in a row. In the duel, led by German referees Robert Schulze and Tobias Tönnies, the Danes, in which Simon Pytlick was the top scorer with six goals, were initially the better team in Gdansk. With a 4-0 run in the final minutes of the first half, the defending champions created what appeared to be a reassuring cushion at the break.
Even after the change, everything initially went according to plan. With 20 minutes remaining, the five-goal lead continued. But then the team of former Bundesliga coach Nikolaj Jacobsen failed to score for almost nine minutes. The Spaniards – European champions in 2018 and 2020 – took advantage of the weak phase and came within a goal.
Germany meets Norway
In the final phase, however, the Danes tightened up again and scored four times in a row – the preliminary decision. The Spaniards, who eliminated Norway in a dramatic quarter-final after two extra hours, did not give up. However, the last chance of a turnaround was thwarted by Denmark’s goalkeeper Magnus Landin from the German record champions THW Kiel, who saved a seven-meter penalty in the final minute when the score was 25:23.
The German handball players had previously returned to the road to success. The team of national coach Alfred Gislason won the first game in the placement round against Olympic fourth-placed Egypt with 35:34 (30:30, 17:14) after extra time and will play against Norway for fifth place at the end of the tournament on Sunday. The Scandinavians prevailed against Hungary with 33:25 (16:13). In front of 1604 spectators in Stockholm, Juri Knorr was the best thrower for the DHB selection with seven goals on Friday, which failed in the quarter-finals against finalist France.
