(BEIJING, August 14) -- Surprises play out on the Handball stage every day, and Thursday evening witnessed France seal a victory over the old Olympic champion Croatia at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium on Thursday evening, August 14.
Germany vs. Egypt: 25-23
Germany capitalized on two late Egyptian suspensions to beat the African champion by two nettings through Michael Krause and Dominik Klein. Despite Pascal Hens's absence, Germany still led a narrow advantage, though they couldn't extend the gap with left-back Hussein Zaky putting in seven goals as the top scorer for the Egyptian team, equaling Germany's top scorer Holger Glandorf.
Both teams' goalkeepers made some great saves, but the final suspension asked for by Egypt fulfilled the Europeans' wish to wrap up the game with a victory.
Poland vs. Brazil: 28-25
The 2007 Worlds silver winner secured a slender win over Pan-American champion Brazil, who has just weathered two European powerhouses, France and Croatia. The previous two matches saw comfortable victories for Poland, but Brazil honed their play by showing great accuracy in attack and exploiting a Polish defense that lacked concentration. It was thanks to left-wing Mateusz Jachlewski, who created scoring opportunities, that Poland rallied to win the game.
Brazil's top scorer was Felipe Ribeiro who contributed seven goals for the team, and goalkeeper Maik Santos also did a good job by saving 43 percent of the shots.
The Republic of Korea vs. Iceland: 22-21
The ROK men shined just as much as their female counterparts in the match against Iceland, who has just proudly defeated 2007 Worlds champion Germany. Having the upper-hand throughout the match, the ROK played a focused and strong defense, with top scorer Yoon Kyung-shin targeting six goals in a row in the latter second. He jumped over Iceland's tall but unstable defense and sent the ball straight through them whenever he saw a gap.
Both teams now have four points and need one more win to safely secure their spots in the quarterfinals.
China vs. Spain: 22-36
China played with spirit even though Spain would prove to be too strong for them. The first half saw some entertaining play from China, including three crowd-pleasing goals from pivot Cui Liang, Miao Qing and Zhu Wenxin.
But Spain, as the 2005 Worlds champion, easily overpowered the host team with a large score gap; right-wing Victor Tomas scored seven goals and was the top scorer for the Spanish team. This victory marked their qualification into the final eight.
Denmark vs. Russia: 25-24
In their chase for a quarterfinal spot, both teams played nervously. The match was even throughout and time was already up when Denmark was awarded one last free throw. Mikkel Hansen (DEN) took the ball and hammered it past the Russian defense into the top-right corner of Russia's goal, ensuring that his team will advance to the quarterfinals.
A weaker first half for Denmark elapsed as a time-out was called, and the Danes fought back with left-wing Lars Christiansen breaking through and scoring the team-high six goals. For Russia, Konstantin Igropulo put in six goals as the top scorer for the Russian team.
France vs. Croatia: 23-19
The showdown between two European dynamos ended with Les Bleus sealing a victory over Croatia, making the former the No. 1 seed into the quarterfinals.
A very physical first half saw Croatian player Peter Metlicic sent out with a red card after receiving three two-minute suspensions in the first 30 minutes, though Croatia was then awarded four penalties, all on target by Mirza Dzomba.
France consolidated their speedy play with fast breaks and kept scoring one step further than Croatia till the end of the game. The final two minutes saw France extending the lead to four goals. Bertrand Gille contributed seven goals for the French team.
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