National coach Alfred Gislason will be happy about this: Favorite France has defeated Austria. This significantly improves Germany’s chances of advancing to the European Championships.
France is already in the semi-finals of the European Handball Championship before the last intermediate round game. In a hard-fought game in Cologne, the French beat Austria 33:28 (15:16). For the favorite it was the sixth victory in the sixth tournament game.
That’s how the game went
The Austrians held their own for a long time in front of 19,750 spectators in the sold-out Lanxess Arena and even took the lead into the half-time break. In crunch time, the Alpine handball players, who had wrested a draw from Germany on Saturday and went into the game with the French undefeated, increasingly collapsed.
When Nikola Karabatić scored 32:28 (59th), the game was decided. Nevertheless, there is still a remaining chance for the European Championship surprise to make a historic leap into the medal games. Circular Ludovic Fabregas and Barca star Dika Mem (both seven goals) became the best throwers in France.
Two wins from the remaining main round games against Hungary on Monday (from 8.30 p.m. in the t-online live ticker) and against the already failed Croatia on Wednesday (from 8.30 p.m. in the t-online live ticker) would be enough for Germany to reach the semi-finals. On Sunday, defending champions Sweden and world champions Denmark qualified early for the semi-finals.
Croatia loses again
Meanwhile, Croatia squandered its already small chance of progressing by losing 30:35 (18:16) against Iceland. Even returnee Domagoj Duvnjak, who scored four goals, could not prevent the two-time Olympic champion from suffering a third defeat. The THW Kiel backcourt player had missed the last two games due to illness. The best thrower of the game was former Bundesliga top scorer Bjarki Mar Elisson (8 goals), while Marin Jelinic (6) scored the most goals for Croatia.
Croatia had largely dominated the game in the first period and had meanwhile gained a four-goal lead at 9:5 (9th). The Icelanders, who maintained their chance of taking part in an Olympic qualifying tournament with their victory, fought back and turned the game around with a 6-0 run in the decisive phase. The Croatians never recovered from 31:25 (55th).