Kraljevi Kvota - Handball World Championship Quarterfinal
This championship is slowly coming to an end, and today the knockout phase begins, or the quarter-finals for the national teams that will fight for a medal, but also the quarter-finals for those who play in the playoffs for the schedule from 25th to 32nd place. You can follow everything about the World Handball Championship on our website as well as on Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok accounts.
We will start with the national teams that are playing in the playoffs for the 25th place. Out of 8 students, Poland stands out as the favorite. In the first part of the competition, the Poles had only one point, a draw against Ceska, but that brought them the last place in the group. After the formation of a new group, they justified the role of favorites in every match and deservedly achieved all three victories, and they are big favorites to overtake the USA as well. On the other hand, the USA had perhaps the most difficult first group with Portugal, Norway and Brazil, and it was not realistic for them to do anything. In the newly formed groups, they recorded all three victories, but tonight against Poland it will be a completely different story. The match starts at 20:30 in Poreč.
The second pair is Kuwait and Japan. In the first group, Kuwait had no chance, and ended the fight in the last place of the group, and after the second formed group, they managed to achieve two victories. They lost only to Poland, so they will play against Japan. The Japanese also failed to win a point in the first group, and in the second they finished behind the USA. Japan will be the favorite in this match, although they will have to work up a sweat in order to overcome difficult Kuwait. They played three duels with each other, Kuwait won twice, and the last time the victory went to Japan. The match is played in Poreč and starts at 18:00.
Algeria and Bahrain will meet in the third match. In the first group, the Algerians could not do much against Italy and Denmark, and then in the match against Tunisia, they put up a good resistance, but lost with 26:25, which placed them in last place in the group. In the second part, they lost both to Poland and Kuwait, but they defeated Guinea. Their tonight's rival, Bahrain, also couldn't do anything in the first round against Croatia and Egypt, and they put up a worthy fight against Argentina, but they also lost 26:25, which sent them to the last place in the group. In the second part, Japan and the USA were better, while they were defeated by Cuba. These two national teams have never met, and although Bahrain will be the favorite, a fight is expected until the last second. The match will be played in Poreč starting at 15:30.
The remaining duel between Guinea and Cuba. Guinea has recorded all six defeats so far, and the only decent resistance was in the second phase against Kuwait. Despite these results, Guinea will be the favorite to win against Cuba tonight. Cuba also has all six defeats in this championship, and the closest to victory and surprise was against the USA in the second phase, but they lost that match with 27:26. These two national teams have never met and it will be very interesting to see who will be the first team to advance.
What is much more interesting and what the whole world, or at least a good part of it, will follow are the quarterfinal battles. Although there may not be Spain, Sweden or one of the hosts, Norway, in these top eight, we will see great duels, and maybe we will see some surprises. Let's go in order.
In the first match, on "their" field, Croatia will face Hungary and they will be the favorites to advance to the semi-finals. This will be a great opportunity for Croatia to achieve great success in front of its fans and join the fight for a medal. In the first part of the championship, both Bahrain and Argentina fell easily, but they stumbled against the first stronger opponent, Egypt, and with that defeat they took second place in the group. Since they transferred only two points, they needed all three victories and a bit of luck with other results, and that happened. They dismantled Cape Verde and then were better in direct matches against Iceland and Slovenia and deservedly took first place. Hungary started the match with a draw against North Macedonia, even though they were big favorites. But then Guinea was defeated and then the Netherlands for first place in the group. They transferred 3 points to the next stage, and lost to France as expected, but were better than Austria and Qatar, which was enough for second place in the group. They played many duels with each other and the last two were won by Hungary. The match will be played in Zagreb starting at 18:00, and the winner of the duel in the semi-final will go to the winner of the France-Egypt match.
What can you say about the French national team that won everything that can be won. They enter this duel against Egypt as absolute favorites, projected for a medal and for the final. The French achieved all six victories in this championship, with ease, and this duel against Egypt should not be a major problem for them. On the other hand, the Egyptians started strong in the first phase and more or less easily achieved three victories in the first part, and took all four points. At the start of the second stage, they bowed out against Iceland, but in the direct match-up they came out as winners against Shunted and then defeated the Cape Verde Islands for second place in the group. Of the 12 matches they played against each other, France won 11 times, and the last match played last year at the Olympic Games ended in a draw. This match is on the program tonight from 9 pm in Arena Zagreb.
Denmark has the easiest job in this quarter-final, which will take on Brazil tomorrow at 17:30. The three-time world champion and one of the hosts is playing very furiously in this championship and has achieved all six victories so far. It is expected that tomorrow they will easily overtake the Brazilians. Brazil, on the other hand, does not stop making surprises at this championship. First, in the first match of the group, they defeated the hosts Norway, even though they were outsiders, and then they lost to Portugal and beat the USA, and transferred two points. In the second phase, they could not win against tougher rivals, but Chile fell in order, then Sweden, which was the big favorite, and then Spain in a direct battle for passage to the quarterfinals. They deservedly made it to the quarterfinals, but it's hard to believe that they can pull off another miracle and eliminate the defending champions. The match is played in Oslo, and the winner of this duel goes to the semi-finals against the winner of the Portugal-Germany match.
The most interesting duel of this quarterfinal will be between Portugal and Germany. Portugal has achieved five victories so far in the championship and drew with Sweden. They put up a great fight during the entire championship and as a reward they will have a semi-final match. Both teams are given equal chances to win, so a great fight and uncertainty are expected until the very end. In the first part of the championship, Germany achieved all three victories, deservedly came first and transferred four points further. In the second part, Denmark was too strong, but Italy and then Tunisia fell to advance to the quarterfinals. Of the four competitive matches they played against each other, the Germans won every time, and Portugal recorded their only victory in a friendly match. This duel is scheduled from 20:30 in Oslo.
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