Denmark and Germany ended succesfully the 24th Men’s World Championship in Qatar. Both teams won their last matches for the fifth and seventh place. The Germans secured the spot in the Olympic qualifications for Rio 2016, while Slovenia will have to wait the results of the contintental championship next January.
Germany vs Slovenia 30:27 (16:14)
After two consecutive defeats against Qatar (quarter-final) and Croatia (placement round) Germany had the greater will to win and the stronger defence in this crucial encounter.
After a weak 4:7Â start, a time-out of Coach Dagur Sigurdsson was the wake-up call for the players. Thanks to an incredible performance of their top scorer Uwe Gensheimer (13 goals) and a triple strike of line player Patrick Wiencek the Germans turned the match around already before the break.
Latest in minute 48, when the score was 28:22, the deal was sealed, while the Slovenians were too tired to win despite nine goals of Jure Natek.
Slovenian right wing Dragan Gajic added three more goals to his tally to top the overall top scorer list with his 71 goals now. Second ranked Qatar right back Zarko Markovic will have to score at least 12 times in the final against France to overtake Gajic.
Placement match 5/6
Croatia vs Denmark 24:28 (11:15)
One year ago the significance in this duel was much higher, but as in the 2014 European championship semi-final in Herning (DEN) the Danes were also victorious in Doha. Denmark only lost one match in Qatar, but unfortunately for them it was the quarter-final against Spain.
Led by goalkeeper Niklas Landin and top scorer Mikkel Hansen (eight goals) the Danes remained in control over the entire 60 minutes. Croatia seemed too tired to endanger the 2011 and 2013 World Championship silver medallists.
Denmark profited from a great start (7:4 and 14:8) to tame the Croats early. Nine minutes before the end, when the Croats had reduced the gap to 23:25, Landin’s crucial saves secured the win and the fifth rank.
Sliskovic, Duvnjak and Stepancic scored four times each for the Croats.
Final ranking 5 – 24 of the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship:
5. Denmark
6. Croatia
7. Germany
8. Slovenia
9. FYRO Macedonia
10. Sweden
11. Iceland
12. Argentina
13. Austria
14. Egypt
15. Tunisia
16. Brazil
17. Czech Republic
18. Belarus
19. Russia
20. Bosnia-Herzegovina
21. Iran
22. Saudi Arabia
23. Chile
24. Algeria
