VIDEO: France’s Estelle Nze Minko spoke to Chris O’Reilly in the aftermath of her side’s 31:26 win over Sweden on Wednesday night. With the scores locked at 15:15 at half-time, France came out with a rejuvenated and deadly defence in the second half, smothering the Swedish attack and laying the foundation for their victory, which sends them on to the …
France shut down Swedes to reach final weekend
Spain 2021 Quarter-final – France vs Sweden 31:26 (15:15) By Chris O’Reilly Before the Game Saving the best for last, the headline quarter-final pitted two teams completing a trilogy of big matches in 2021. At this summer’s Tokyo Olympics, they played out two thrillers, a 28:28 draw in the preliminary round and a 29:27 win for France in the …
Deutschland scheitert im WM-Viertelfinale
Die Lage der Nation – Teil 7 Der Ausdruck “cracking under pressure”, er könnte für das deutsche Aus im Viertelfinale gegen Spanien nicht passender sein. Denn eigentlich gewann an diesem Abend nicht die bessere Mannschaft, sondern die mental stärkere. Die DHB-Auswahl hat, zum dritten Mal in drei Jahren, die große Chance auf den Einzug in das Halbfinale eines Turniers …
Norway discover their mojo to book semi-final spot
Spain 2021 Quarter-final – Norway vs Russian Handball Federation 34:28 (19:15) By Chris O’Reilly Before the game Norway’s World Championship started all of a sudden with two make-or-break matches against Sweden, 30:30, and the Netherlands, 37:34, to send them through to the knockout rounds. The Russian campaign, on the other hand, was more of a slow burner as they had …
Spanish spirit prevails in dogged quarter-final
Spain 2021 Quarter-final – Spain vs Germany 26:21 (14:10) By Chris O’Reilly Before the game Hosts Spain came into the quarter-finals as somewhat of an unknown quantity, in so far as they had progressed with ease from the softest quarter of the championship. An unbeaten main round concluded with a 27:24 win over Brazil but it was difficult to know …
“Wir müssen einen guten Start erwischen!”
Für Dinah Eckerle lief das Spiel gegen Dänemark, wie für das ganze deutsche Team, nicht wie erhofft. Die Torhüterin selbst konnte sich zwar mehrfach auszeichnen, die hohe Pleite aber nicht verhindern. Doch das ist bereits vergessen, denn im Viertelfinale wartet mit Spanien ein komplett anderer Gegner. Im Interview blickt Eckerle nochmal kurz zurück, spricht über die Bedeutung des Viertelfinals und …
Denmark grind out semi-final spot after Brazilian battle
Spain 2021 Quarter-final – Denmark vs Brazil 30:25 (14:13) By Chris O’Reilly Before the Game Denmark have been the standout team for me at Spain 2021 so far and I had them top of my power ranking. Coming into this match with six wins from six and conceding more than 20 goals on just one occasion, the only question mark …
Power Ranking – How the quarter-finalists shape up
By Chris O’Reilly No rest for the wicked. From the final main round matches on Monday night to the quarter-finals beginning on Tuesday, it leaves little room to pause and take stock of what has happened. So here is a quick rundown of the eight remaining contenders and how I rank them in terms of current form – not necessarily …
France flourish, Dutch say goodbye to crown
By Chris O’Reilly Captivating matches at Spain 2021 are like waiting for a bus: you wait ages for one and then a bunch come along at once. At least that’s how I felt in recent days as the main round came to an end. Is that fair though? One glance at the results from the past few days suggests there …
Keine Zeit für Angst
Die Lage der Nation – Teil 6 Angst ist bekanntermaßen kein guter Ratgeber. Aber genau dieser Faktor bestimmte den Auftritt der DHB-Auswahl im letzten WM-Hauptrundenspiel gegen Dänemark. Von der ersten Minute an lief wenig zusammen. “Wir waren wie das Kaninchen vor der Schlange”, sagte Henk Groener im Anschluss. Damit brachte es der Bundestrainer auf den Punkt. Gegen einen starken …