DDenmark’s handball players are just one step away from their third World Cup title in a row. The gold winner of 2019 and 2021 qualified on Friday with a 26:23 (15:10) against the European Championship runners-up Spain for the final on Sunday in Stockholm (8.30 p.m., in the FAZ live ticker for the handball world championship and on Eurosport ). The opponent will be determined in the evening in the second semi-final between European champions Sweden and Olympic champions France.
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.
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.
