Most interesting match of the day in group B was surely the one between Macedonia and Iceland with Iceland needing at least a draw to get through and Macedonians hoping not to lose it because that loss would send them to Lille and eighth-finals face-off against France. In the end 27:27 draw with Karason leveling it up after young gun Taleski scored to put Macedonia in front. It was a tough clash full of uncertainty with Kiril Lazarov once again leading his team with 7. Stoilov added 3, Neloski, Taleski and Drogriski 1 each. Coach Cervar also decided to make a roster change ahead of this one with Metalurg' Zarko Pesevski replacing Vardar' Zoran Popovski. Macedonia will, as third-placed team in group B, in eighth-finals travel to Albertville where they will on Saturday play Norway.

Final match of the day in Metz between Slovenia and Spain was supposed to be a real battle of two great teams for the top spot in group B. Unfortunately for Slovenian fans, it was far from that with Spaniards deciding everything within first 30 minutes in which they have managed to enlarge the gap to 8 on wings on Balaguer who netted 7 in that period. In the second half Slovenians played better looking more like a team but that was not enough against such a quality team like Spain. In the end +10 for Spaniards (36:26). Gasper Marguc was a light spot in Vujovic' roster scoring 6 from as much attempts. Blagotinsek added 3 as well as Janc, Zarabec and Miklavcic 2 each. Poteko scored 1 as well as both Kodrin and Mackovsek. Canellas on the other side scored 4 for Spain, Alex Dujshebaev added 1. City of lights, Paris will welcome Slovenians in eighth-finals where they will on Saturday meet Russia.

Russians have with a four-goal win (28:24) against Brazil managed to secure third place in group A. Unfortunately for them Pavel Atman got injured before the match forcing coach Torgovanov to replace him with another SEHA player, Vardar' Alexander Dereven who was ready to take the scorer role in absence of Atman leading Russia with 5 as well as Shelmenko. Their goalies combined for 16.

Tunisians have managed to reach their second win in France easily beating Angola with 43:34. Bannour was once again leading them with 10. Their goalies combined for 19. It was however not enough for them to go through with Macedonians failing to beat Iceland in the second match of the day in Metz.

Hosts have, a bit harder than expected considering the situation, managed to conclude the group stage with a narrow 26:25 win over heavily weakened Poland. Talant Dujshebaev' boys were able to stay close until half time which was leveled at 13. However, French 5:0 series in the beginning of the second half decided everything with Poles making it look closer than it actually was with a 3:0 series to end the match. Nyokas scored 7 for France, Krajewski and Gebala 5 each for Poland.

Blowout 38:23 win for Norway against Japan on wings of phenomenal goalie Christensen who caught fire finishing the match with 19 saves. Myrhol scored 7 with Norwegians proving to be the second-best team in group A with 4 wins from 5 encounters losing only to France.

Matchday 9 (19.1.2017)

Group A: Russia - Brazil 28:24 (14:15) (Dereven 5/Pozzer 5), France - Poland 26:25 (13:13) (Nyokas 7/Krajewski 5), Japan - Norway 23:38 (14:19) (Motoki 4/Myrhol 7)

Group B: Tunisia - Angola 43:34 (23:16) (Bannour 10/Teca 10), Macedonia - Iceland 27:27 (13:15) (Lazarov 7/Karason 7), Spain - Slovenia 36:26 (18:10) (Balaguer 7/Marguc 6)

 

Final decisions will on Friday be made in groups C and D.

In group C Croatia will in a direct encounter against Germany decide who will go through to knockout phase from group C’ pole position. Hungarians have also already secured a place in eighth-finals but will need a win in a SEHA derby against Belarus to remain third. That will surely make the match, in which Belarusian players need a win or at least a draw in order to book a place in eighth-finals, even more interesting. However, not even a win secures them from coming up short as they fully depend on the match between Saudi Arabia and Chile in which they have to hope for Saudis to beat Chile or at least reach a draw.

In group D we already know which four teams will go through to eighth-finals. Danes have already secured the first spot, Qatar will end up fourth and the only thing we still have to see is who will end up second with Sweden and Egypt deciding everything in their direct encounter. Bahrain and Argentina can already pack their bags for Brest.

 

Tomorrow on World Championship in France:

 

Group C: Chile - Saudi Arabia (14.00 CET), Germany - Croatia (17.45 CET), Belarus - Hungary (20.45 CET)

Group D: Bahrain - Argentina (14.00 CET), Sweden - Egypt (17.45 CET), Qatar - Denmark (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)

Round 5; Russia - Brazil 28:24 (14:15) (Dereven 5/Pozzer 5), France - Poland 26:25 (13:13) (Nyokas 7/Krajewski 5), Japan - Norway 23:38 (14:19) (Motoki 4/Myrhol 7)

STANDINGS GROUP A; France 10 (+42), Norway 8 (+31), Russia 6 (+3), Brazil 4 (-25), Poland 2 (-10), Japan 0 (-41)

 

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)

Round 5; Tunisia - Angola 43:34 (23:16) (Bannour 10/Teca 10), Macedonia - Iceland 27:27 (13:15) (Lazarov 7/Karason 7), Spain - Slovenia 36:26 (18:10) (Balaguer 7/Marguc 6)

STANDINGS GROUP B; Spain 10 (+45), Slovenia 7 (+15), Macedonia 5 (+2), Iceland 4 (+7), Tunisia 4 (0), Angola 0 (-69)

 

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: Brazil vs. Spain (21.1.), 2C vs. 3D (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Montpellier.

 

Albertville: Norway vs. Macedonia (21.1.), 4C vs. 1D (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Albertville.

 

Lille: France vs. Iceland (21.1.), 3C vs. 2D (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Lille.

 

Paris: Russia vs. Slovenia (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) Japan vs Angola, (2) Poland vs Tunisia

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)