Macedonians have, against Norwegians, opened first eighth-finals matchday. In the end tough loss (34:24) but it did not seem like that in the first half when Macedonians were able to stay quite close being only 2 goals down after first 30. However, in second half it was visible that Norwegians have way wider bench and more experience which has in the end brought them clear win. Kiro Lazarov was once again leading Macedonians with 6. By him, Macedonian line players posted a strong line with Stoilov scoring 5 and Pesevski adding 3 being the biggest offensive threat for Norway. Drogriski added 1 as well as Taleski. Jondal and Tangen were on the other side leading Norway scoring 6 each.

Veselin Vujovic' Slovenia has become the first SEHA Gazprom team to find its place in WCh quarter-finals after a win against Russia (32:26). They did not expect it to be easy and it was not with Russians being 2 goals up after first 30 but Slovenian amazing 10:3 series in the beginning of the second half decided everything sealing the deal in this one and putting Slovenia through. Cingesar played his best match on the tournament leading Slovenia with 6/6, Marguc added 5, Mackovsek 4, Janc 3, Blagotinsek and Kodrin 1 each. Skok was once again on required level with 10 saves. SEHA players were on the other side leading Russia with Dereven and Shishkarev scoring 5 each. Dibirov added 3. In QF Slovenians will play better from the clash between Germany and Qatar.

France are in quarter-finals. In front more than 28.000 fans in Lille they have managed to beat Iceland 31:25. It was however a bit harder than expected, especially in the first half when they were in one moment 3 goals down ending up only 1 goal in front after first 30. Anyhow, their 6:1 series to start the second half decided everything with experienced Guigou leading them in this one with 6. Karason on the other side netted 7 for Iceland.

Spain have way harder than expected managed to beat Brazil (28:27) booking a place in quarter-finals. It was a close, narrow match in which Alex Dujshebaev delivered his best performance on the tournament scoring 2 of Spain' final 3 goals leading them towards a new victory with 5 goals in total. Canellas added as much. Brazilian goalies combined for 16 coming up clutch with two 7-meter shot saves in final 10 minutes but that was not enough to come up with what would have been the biggest surprise of the tournament.

On President's Cup in Brest Japan have managed to dominantly beat Angola with 37:26 on wings of Tokuda and his 8 goals and in the second duel of the day Poles celebrated a narrow 28:26 win over Tunisia. Krajewski was leading them with 8.

Matchday 11 (21.1.2017)

Montpellier: (EF) Brazil - Spain 27:28 (18:16) (Silva 7/Dujshebaev, Canellas 5)

Albertville: (EF) Norway - Macedonia 34:24 (12:10) (Jondal 6/K. Lazarov 6)

Lille: (EF) France - Iceland 31:25 (14:13) (Guigou 6/Karason 7)

Paris: (EF) Russia - Slovenia 26:32 (15:13) (Dereven, Shishkarev 5/Cingesar 6)

Brest: (President's Cup) Japan - Angola 37:26 (18:14) (Tokuda 8/Lopes 9), Poland - Tunisia 28:26 (15:11) (Krajewski 8/Bannour 10)

 

Three SEHA national teams will tomorrow look to book a QF place in France. Hungary will in Albertville try to stun favored Danes and schedule a QF face-off against Norway, Belarus will in Lille look to move on to QF where they would play France if they manage to come out on top against Sweden and Croatia will in Montpellier play Egypt and in case of a victory they will in QF play Spain. Only EF match tomorrow which will not feature SEHA Gazprom participating national team will be face-off between Germany and Qatar in Paris. In President’s Cup played in Brest Chile will meet Bahrain and Saudis will later on face Argentines.

 

Tomorrow on World Championship in France:

Montpellier: (EF) Croatia - Egypt (20.45 CET)

Albertville: (EF) Hungary - Denmark (16.00 CET)

Lille: (EF) Belarus - Sweden (16.00 CET)

Paris: (EF) Germany - Qatar (18.00 CET)

Brest: (President’s Cup) Chile - Bahrain (14.00 CET), Saudi Arabia - Argentina (16.00 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)

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 vs Egypt (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Montpellier.

 

Albertville: Norway - Macedonia 34:24 (12:10) (Jondal 6/K. Lazarov 6), Hungary vs Denmark (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Albertville.

 

Lille: France - Iceland 31:25 (14:13) (Guigou 6/Karason 7), Belarus vs Sweden (22.1.)

Winners will meet in quarter-finals playing in Lille.

 

Paris: Russia - Slovenia 26:32 (15:13) (Dereven, Shishkarev 5/Cingesar 6), Germany vs Qatar (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 - 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 vs Bahrain, (4) Saudi Arabia vs Argentina

Monday (23.1.) PLACES 23/24 Angola vs L(3), PLACES 21/22 Japan vs W(3), PLACES 19/20 Tunisia vs L(4), PLACES 17/18 Poland vs W(4)

Photo: France Handball