Hungarians have created the biggest surprise of WCh in France knocking Olympic champions Danes out of the competition after an incredible 27:25 win! Not many believed that they will even manage to stay close to Hansen & Co but what happened today in Albertville will surely find its place in history books as one of the biggest handball victories ever for Hungary. Xavi Sabate prepared his team amazingly putting experienced Laszlo Nagy back in instead of Gulyas with Veszprem' captain responding in the best possible manner delivering a heroic defensive line and boosting his team's chances for such a stunner. He scored only 1 but luckily for all Hungarian fans SEHA duo Lekai - Jamali was unstoppable today combining for 10 (Lekai 6, Jamali 4) with Ancsin adding 3 to help his team find a key for Dannish defence which was not on a required level today. On top of all that Roland Mikler had his night with 15 saves most of which in the second half when it was most needed leaving Danes wondering. Macedonian referees Nacevski - Nikolv were in charge of the match. In case Hungary manage to keep on playing like this only sky is the limit as they will in QF in two days, once again in Albertville which looks to be a happy place for them, play Norway. Hajrá Magyarország!

Croats have with a strong first half managed to enlarge the gap wide enough to be able to keep it open in the second half and secure a 21:19 win over Egypt. Coach Zeljko Babic decided to make his second roster-changing move in France bringing Ivan Pesic in instead of Filip Ivic and it turned out to be a good decision with Pesic delivering a good performance, especially in the first half, and boosting his team's chances for success. Croats were 6 up after the first half. Beginning of the second was however their worst period of the match when they've allowed Egypt to trim the lead to only -2. However, in the end Cindric came up clutch bringing Croatia up by 5 with less than 5 minutes to go with two great goals. He scored 5 in total today. Horvat was best Croatian scorer with 6. Croatia will in two days in Montpellier face Spain in quarter-finals.

It is fair to say that Swedes are absolutely on fire in France. They were today simply too good for Belarus to surprise them and advance through to QF. Goalies combined for 19 for Sweden, Gotffridsson scored 8/8 booking a ticket to quarter-finals for his team and a clash against France. Andreas Nilsson added 3. Biggest problem for Belarus was defence today as they have allowed Sweden to score 24 in only the first half enlarging the gap to 13 and from that point it is impossible to come back. Karalek has once again proved to be a name to pay attention on scoring 7, Yurynok added 2. In the end huge 41:22 win for Sweden and a bitter tournament ending for Belarusians who have in France proved they can play well, have a quality team and good mentality with some young talented players to build up on in years to come.

As if one huge surprise was not enough for today, Qatar have in Paris managed to stun Germany and take a 21:20 win booking a place in quarter-finals where they will meet Slovenia. Rafael Capote was leading Qatar in attack with 9 goals being given the 'MOTM' award after scoring 3 in a row for Qatar to bring them up by 1 after being 2 down with less than 5 minutes to go. Danijel Saric on the other side finally proved why he is considered one of the all-time greatest delivering best performance here in France so far with 15 saves. Andreas Wolff had 19 saves but even that was not enough for Germans which says quite much of how good Qatar was today.

In President's Cup Chile have managed to outplay Bahrain with 35:30 with Rodrigo Salinas leading them with 8. Second match of the day, led by Montenegrin refereeing duo Pavicevic - Raznatovic, was a bit closer with Argentina coming up with 24:22 win over Saudi Arabia despite of 5:0 Saudi series to put them only 1 goal down with less than a minute left to play. However, Federico Pizzaro came out clutch netting one for final +2.

Matchday 12 (22.1.2017)

Montpellier: (EF) Croatia - Egypt 21:19 (13:7) (Horvat 6/Elahmar 5)

Albertville: (EF) Hungary - Denmark 27:25 (13:12) (Lekai 6/Hansen 9)

Lille: (EF) Belarus - Sweden 22:41 (11:24) (Karalek 7/Gotffridsson 8)

Paris: (EF) Germany - Qatar 20:21 (10:9) (Groetzki 4/Capote 9)

Brest: (President’s Cup) Chile - Bahrain 35:30 (18:14) (R. Salinas 8/Ali Alsayyad 8), Saudi Arabia - Argentina 22:24 (8:10) (6 Alabas/6 Pizzaro)

 

Monday will be a rest day for teams which have managed to reach quarter-finals with all the matches of the day being scheduled for Brest and President’s Cup where we will get answers on who will take positions 24-17.

 

Tomorrow on World Championship in France:

 

Brest (President’s Cup): (23rd place match) Angola - Bahrain (13.00 CET), (21st place match) Japan - Chile (15.00 CET), (19th place match) Tunisia - Saudi Arabia, (17th place match) Poland - Argentina

 

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)

Round 5; Chile - Saudi Arabia 25:26 (13:13) (R. Salinas 7/Alabbas 9), Germany - Croatia 28:21 (13:9) (Wiencek 6/Strlek 5), Belarus - Hungary 27:25 (15:13) (Brouka 6/Juhasz 7)

STANDINGS GROUP C; Germany 10 (+52), Croatia 8 (+22), Belarus 4 (-11), Hungary 4 (+9), Saudi Arabia 2 (-34), Chile 2 (-38)

 

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)

Round 5; Bahrain - Argentina 17:26 (8:13) (Abdulqader Ali 5/Fernandez 8), Sweden - Egypt 33:26 (15:9) (Ekberg 8/Eissa 7), Qatar - Denmark 29:32 (16:14) (Capote 5/Noddesbo 8)

STANDINGS GROUP D; Denmark 10 (+27), Sweden 8 (+51), Egypt 6 (-5), Qatar 4 (-2), Argentina 2 (-29), Bahrain 0 (-42)

 

Eighth-finals/quarter-finals:

Montpellier: Brazil - Spain 27:28 (18:16) (Silva 7/Dujshebaev, Canellas 5), Croatia - Egypt 21:19 (13:7) (Horvat 6/Elahmar 5)

QF (24.1.) Spain vs Croatia (20.45 CET)

 

Albertville: Norway - Macedonia 34:24 (12:10) (Jondal 6/K. Lazarov 6), Hungary - Denmark 27:25 (13:12) (Lekai 6/Hansen 9)

QF (24.1.) Norway vs Hungary (17.00 CET)

 

Lille: France - Iceland 31:25 (14:13) (Guigou 6/Karason 7), Belarus - Sweden 22:41 (11:24) (Karalek 7/Gotffridsson 8)

QF (24.1.) France vs Sweden (19.00 CET)

 

Paris: Russia - Slovenia 26:32 (15:13) (Dereven, Shishkarev 5/Cingesar 6), Germany - Qatar 20:21 (10:9) (Groetzki 4/Capote 9)

QF (24.1.) Slovenia vs Qatar (20.45 CET)

 

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 - Angola 37:26 (18:14) (Tokuda 8/Lopes 9), (2) Poland - Tunisia 28:26 (15:11) (Krajewski 8/Bannour 10)

Sunday (22.1.) (3) Chile - Bahrain 35:30 (18:14) (R. Salinas 8/Ali Alsayyad 8) (4) Saudi Arabia - Argentina 22:24 (8:10) (6 Alabas/6 Pizzaro)

Monday (23.1.) (23rd place match) Angola - Bahrain (13.00 CET), (21st place match) Japan - Chile (15.00 CET), (19th place match) Tunisia - Saudi Arabia (18.00 CET), (17th place match) Poland - Argentina (20.00 CET)

 

 
Photo: France Handball 2017 Flickr