Hungary have on wings of Gabor Csazsar' flashing 9-goal performance managed to dominantly beat Saudi Arabia 37:24. The deal was already sealed by the end of the first half with Xavi Sabate's players enlarging the gap to 7. Hungarians were of course given the favorite role ahead of the match and they have managed to prove it on the court with whole team delivering a quality performance. They have with this win also managed to secure a place in eighth-finals where they will most likely find a place as third-positioned team from group C. By Csazsar' 9, Gulyas added 4 as well as Lekai, Jamali and Ancsin 2 each, Ligetvari 1. Roland Mikler had 8 saves.  

Belarusian players did not manage to stun Germany despite of the fact that the result was leveled after first 30 minutes at 16. It was a fine performance from the whole Belarusian team but it was not enough to surprise German 'Bad boys' in Rouen. Karalek was once again leading them scoring 4 as well as both Shylovich and Shynkel. Yurynok added 3, Rutenka 2. Uwe Gensheimer was on the other side German best scorer with 8 goals which have additionally fired up the best scorer race in which he is doing all he can to catch Macedonian scoring machine Kiril Lazarov. Belarus will in the final round play Hungary in a match which will be decisive for them in case they wish to reach eighth-finals but by their performance they will also have to hope for Saudi Arabia to beat Chile or at least reach a draw.

Croatian players directed a new blowout WCh win beating Chile 37:22. It was already +8 after first 30 minutes and the difference could have been way bigger if Chilean goalkeeper Barrientos did not gather 8 saves in only 10 final minutes. However, in second half, it was an easy match for Croats with Lovro Mihic leading them with 8. Jotic added 5, Bozic-Pavletic 4 as well as Mamic, Cindric scored 3 along with Mandalinic and Kontrec and Sebetic netted 1 each. Even Stevanovic scored 1 combining it with 11 saves. Defence worked well against a bit short Chilean offence and when defence is good it is not hard to profit from transition scoring goals fast and easy. Croatia will in two days play Germany in a match which will decide who will go through as top positioned in group C.

Lino Cervar and Macedonians were not far from surprising heavily favored Spain losing with only 25:29. Their young team is proving everyone who did not believe in them prior to the competition wrong keeping close to Spain all the way until 10 minutes before the end when Spanish 5:0 series decided everything. Rivera was leading Spain with 11, Alex Dujsheaev added 5, Canellas 1. Kiro Lazarov on the other side netted 6 for Macedonians, Stoilov added 3, Neloski 1. Macedonians have already prior to this match secured a place in eighth-finals which means they will not have any pressure on their back in their final preliminary round match against Iceland. Victory or eventually even a draw would however secure them third place.

Egypt have with a 31:26 win secured a place in eighth-finals, pushed Argentina towards Brest and proved to be one of the biggest WCh surprises. They have managed to deliver a solid all-around performance already grabbing a 3-goal lead before the break and keeping Argentina on the safe distance despite of Federico Vieyra exploding for 12 goals.

Slovenian referees Lah and Sok were in charge of an opening duel of the day in group D with Denmark beating Bahrain, a bit harder than expected, with 30:26. It was already +4 after first 30 with Henrik Toft Hansen leading them in this one with 6 goals.

Swedes are in great form in France. Despite of the loss against Denmark last night they have managed to prepare well for the encounter against Qatar today and in the end take an easy 36:25 win. Ekberg was once again leading them with 9 while their goalies combined for 15. Andreas Nilsson scored 3.

Matchday 8 (18.1.2017)

Group B: Macedonia - Spain 25:29 (14:14) (K. Lazarov 6/Rivera 11)

Group C: Saudi Arabia - Hungary 24:37 (10:17) (Almohsin 7/Csazsar 9), Belarus - Germany 25:31 (16:16) (Shylovich 4/Gensheimer 8), Croatia - Chile 37:22 (17:9) (Mihic 8/Salinas 4)

Group D: Argentina - Egypt 26:31 (10:13) (Vieyra 12/Elbassiouny 5), Denmark - Bahrain 30:26 (17:13) (H. Toft 6/Habib Hasan 6), Sweden - Qatar 36:25 (19:12) (Ekberg 9/Roine 8)

 

Preliminary round will on Thursday end in groups A and B. Speaking of SEHA representatives, Macedonia will in Rouen play Iceland and right after that match Slovenia and Spain will step on the court to decide who will go through to knockout phase from the top position in group B.

By them, in case Tunisia manage to beat Angola in the premier match of the day in Metz, Iceland will need a win over Macedonia to pass Tunisia on the table and get through from third position pushing Macedonia towards Lille and a clash against France. In case they fail to beat Lino Cervar and his boys they will go to Brest to play on President’s Cup and Macedonia will go through as third-positioned team. Tunisians will, in that situation, end up fourth. However, in case Tunisians lose Iceland and Macedonia will in their direct encounter decide who will go through as a third-placed team from group B. Draw would favour Macedonians.

In group A hosts have already secured the top spot and Norwegians will end up second. Poland and Japan already know they will continue the tournament in Brest on President’s Cup which means the only decision left to see is who will get through as third-positioned from group A with Russia and Brazil deciding everything in their direct encounter. In case of a draw Russia would go through as third-placed due to better goal difference.

 

Tomorrow on World Championship in France:

 

Group A: Russia - Brazil (14.00 CET), France - Poland (17.45 CET), Japan - Norway (20.45 CET)

Group B: Tunisia - Angola (14.00 CET), Macedonia - Iceland (17.45 CET), Spain - Slovenia (20.45 CET)

 

FULL WCH FRANCE 2017 OVERVIEW

 

Results Group A

Round 1; France - Brazil 31:16 (17:7) (Porte 6/Toledo 5), Russia - Japan 39:29 (18:15) (Atman, Dibirov, Shishkarev 6/Shida 7), Poland - Norway 20:22 (10:12) (Daszek 7/Hansen 6)

Round 2; Japan - France 19:31 (9:17) (Uegaki 5/Fabregas 7), Brazil - Poland 28:24 (16:11) (Toledo 8/Paczkowski 6), Norway - Russia 28:24 (15:11) (Bjornsen 7/Soroka 8)

Round 3; France - Norway 31:28 (16:12) (N. Karabatic 5/ Sagosen 8), Brazil - Japan 27:24 (14:12) (Langaro 8/Tokuda 7), Poland - Russia 20:24 (9:13) (Gebala 4/Kovalev 7)

Round 4; Norway - Brazil 39:26 (18:13) (Sagosen 7/Chiuffa, Pozzer 6), Poland - Japan 26:25 (9:11) (Daszek 5/Ushida 9), Russia - France 24:35 (11:16) (Shishkarev 6/Dipanda 8)

STANDINGS GROUP A; France 8 (+41), Norway 6 (+16), Russia 4 (-1), Brazil 4 (-21), Poland 2 (-9), Japan 0 (-26),

 

Results Group B

Round 1; Slovenia - Angola 42:25 (22:13) (Marguc, Mackovsek 9/Lopes 7), Macedonia - Tunisia 34:30 (13:14) (K. Lazarov 12/Boughanmi 9), Spain - Iceland 27:21 (10:12) (Canellas 4/Sigurdsson 5)

Round 2; Iceland - Slovenia 25:26 (8:11) (Elisson 7/Bezjak 6), Tunisia - Spain 21:26 (10:12) (Toumi 5/Tomas, Balaguer 5), Angola - Macedonia 22:31 (9:14) (Lopes 5/K.Lazarov 10)

Round 3; Iceland - Tunisia 22:22 (11:13) (Sigurdsson 5/Bannour 12), Slovenia - Macedonia 29:22 (16:10) (Marguc, Bezjak 4/K.Lazarov 9), Spain - Angola 42:22 (21:10) (Fernandez 9/Lopes 6)

Round 4; Slovenia - Tunisia 28:28 (15:13) (Kavticnik 7/Sanai 8), Angola - Iceland 19:33 (8:16) (Lopes 8/Sigurdsson 8), Macedonia - Spain 25:29 (14:14) (K. Lazarov 6/Rivera 11)

STANDINGS GROUP B; Spain 8 (+35), Slovenia 7 (+25), Macedonia 4 (+2), Iceland 3 (+7), Tunisia 2 (-9), Angola 0 (-60)

 

Results Group C

Round 1; Belarus - Chile 28:32 (14:14) (Karalek 10/R. Salinas 8), Germany - Hungary 27:23 (16:11) (Gensheimer 13/Jamali, Lekai 3), Croatia - Saudi Arabia 28:23 (12:11) (Cindric 6/Alsalem 5)

Round 2; Hungary - Croatia 28:31 (11:11) (Balogh, Harsanyi 6/Duvnjak 5), Chile - Germany 14:35 (6:17) (Feuchtmann 2/Kohlbacher 8), Saudi Arabia - Belarus 26:29 (13:14) (Alsalem 7/Pukhouski 9)

Round 3; Hungary - Chile 34:29 (17:14) (Jamali 7/Er. Feuchtmann 9), Croatia - Belarus 31:25 (18:15) (Cindric 8/Karalek 7), Germany - Saudi Arabia 38:24 (21:13) (Fath 6/Alzaer 8)

Round 4; Saudi Arabia - Hungary 24:37 (10:17) (Almohsin 7/Csazsar 9), Belarus - Germany 25:31 (16:16) (Shylovich 4/Gensheimer 8), Croatia - Chile 37:22 (17:9) (Mihic 8/Salinas 4)

STANDINGS GROUP C; Germany 8 (+45), Croatia 8 (+29), Hungary 4 (+11), Belarus 2 (-13), Chile 2 (-37), Saudi Arabia 0 (-35)

 

Results Group D

Round 1; Qatar - Egypt 20:22 (8:11) (Capote 5/El-Ahmar 8), Sweden - Bahrain 33:16 (17:5) (Tollbring 10/Habib Hasan 4), Denmark - Argentina 33:22 (17:11) (Hansen 6/F. Fernandez 6)

Round 2; Egypt - Denmark 28:35 (15:21) (Elderaa 6/Svan 6), Argentina - Sweden 17:35 (11:16) (S. Simonet 5/Zachrisson 8), Bahrain - Qatar 22:32 (9:19) (Abdulqader Ali 5/Madadi 8)

Round 3; Egypt - Bahrain 31:29 (17:15) (Elderaa 6/Abdulla Saad 6), Denmark - Sweden 27:25 (14:10) (Hansen 8/Ekberg 7), Qatar - Argentina 21:17 (9:2) (Mallash 5/Fernandez 7)

Round 4; Argentina - Egypt 26:31 (10:13) (Vieyra 12/Elbassiouny 5), Denmark - Bahrain 30:26 (17:13) (H. Toft 6/Habib Hasan 6), Sweden - Qatar 36:25 (19:12) (Ekberg 9/Roine 8)

STANDINGS GROUP D; Denmark 8 (+24), Sweden 6 (+44), Egypt 6 (+2), Qatar 4 (+1), Bahrain 0 (-33), Argentina 0 (-38)

 

Eighth-finals: 

Montpellier: 4A vs. 1B (21.1.), 2C vs. 3D (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Montpellier.

 

Albertville: 2A vs. 3B (21.1.), 4C vs. 1D (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Albertville.

 

Lille: 1A vs. 4B (21.1.), 3C vs. 2D (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Lille.

 

Paris: 3A vs. 2B (21.1.), 1C vs. 4D (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Paris.

 

Winners from QF in Lille and QF in Paris will meet in semi-final on Thursday (26.1.) in Accorhotels Arena in Paris.

Winners from QF in Montpellier and QF in Albertville will meet in semi-final on Friday (27.1.) in Accorhotels Arena in Paris.

Bronze-medal match is scheduled from Saturday (28.1.) and final will be played on Sunday (29.1.) both in Accorhotels Arena in Paris.

 

President’s Cup will be played in Brest with the following schedule:

Saturday (21.1.) (1) 6A vs. 6B, (2) 5A vs. 5B

Sunday (22.1.) (3) 6C vs. 6D, (4) 5C vs. 5D

Monday (23.1.) PLACES 23/24 L(1) vs. L(3), PLACES 21/22 W(1) vs. W(3), PLACES 19/20 L(2) vs. L(4), PLACES 17/18 W(2) vs. W(4)