| Handball News |
Handball News  (23/01/2008) Denmark go on in the semi-final race |
There could be no doubts: Denmark were convincing once again.
Poland 26:36 Denmark (13:17)
There were five Kasper Hvidt saves (18 during the whole match) and six missed Polish shots at the beginning of the match that Denmark and Poland fought for survival.
In the 7th minute it was already 4:1 for the Scandinavians. The eternal bronze medalists were fabulous with their aggressive 6-0 defence, too difficult for the Polish side.
Only a few shots ended in the net, the others were stopped by Hvidt. The quick counter-attacks of Nielsen, Christiansen and Boesen allowed the Danes to take a 4 goal lead by the 14th minute. Bogdan Wenta took a time out, but it did not help either. They missed one more shot and Boesen scored to make it 10:3.
It was just running there and back for the World Championship runner up team. Neither Karol Bielecki nor Marcin Lijewski were able to surprise the Danes. Ulrik Wilbek did not change the tactics that his team used throughout the tournament. They were fast and scored quick goals. Despite making a couple of mistakes, the Danish advantage at half time was already four goals (17:13).
The Danes kept the Poles even more away from the goal in the second halftime. They did not allow their opponents to get closer than eight meters where they had no shooting opportunities.
The Polish side made mistakes and they were not able to capitalise on the fast break chances. Eleven minutes after the break Poland scored only two goals, while the Danes scored seven and he gap was already ten goals. Denmark were leading by 11 goals at times and in the 51st minute it was already plus 12.
Denmark have six points now together with Croatia, while Norway have five. However, the Polish side can give up their hopes with their second defeat in a row.
Comments after the match:
Marcin Lijewski (Poland):
"I don’t know what to say: it was terrible. We could not do anything. I think we are too tired to play on the same level such a difficult match. I’m disappointed because I cannot remember when we last lost by ten goals."
Ulrik Wiblek (coach, Denmark):
"We were dominant today. The thing is that we have good self-confidence because we are good at team work. We played well in attack and in defence. We were very concentrated during all the 60 minutes and we did not make mistakes. This makes it difficult for all the teams to play against us." |
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