The next contenders made their way to the Main Round: As Denmark (against Algeria) and Spain (against Egypt) took their each fourth victory in their fourth match of the Preliminary Round they qualified for the next stage with now eight points. But both have real clashes ahead, as Denmark meet Croatia and Spain play against France on Thursday. Those both games will decide about the winners of Groups A and C. Thanks to the Danish victory also Serbia booked the ticket to the Main Round. Romania won their first match in this WCh.

After Match Day 4 is completed, those are the teams already qualified for the Main Round:

Group A:  France, Spain

Group B:  Iceland, Hungary, Norway

Group C:  Denmark, Croatia, Serbia

Group D: Poland, Sweden

Group A:

Spain – Egypt 31:18 (14:9)

As the Iberians woke up very late, Egypt had an ideal start – but then the Spaniards accelerated in the middle of the first half. They already pre-decided the game by leading 12:7 and 14:9 at the break. In the second half the match became absolutely one-sided, when Spain extended the gap to 18:10, 22:14 and 28:16. After that Spain didn’t do more than they had to. The number of mistakes arose and they had to thank their brilliant goalkeeper Arpad Sterbik that the distance remained as huge as it was.  The 31:18 meant the Spanish qualification for the Main Round, as Egypt will continue in the President’s Cup, even if they win their last match against Bahrain.

Group C:

Denmark – Algeria 26:19 (16:9)

The more than 8800 spectators were absolutely satisfied with the performance of the Danish team, which showed some spectacular actions after the winner was known very early. By their fourth victory the Danes took the lead in Group C one point ahead of Croatia right before the final clash of both contenders on Thursday, the re-match of the EURO final 2008 in this early stage of the tournament. Thanks to their individual class, speed and counter attack goals, Denmark started brilliant with 7:2 and 12:4 before Algeria woke up and started scoring, but as they expectedly could not stop the Danish Express the distance remained huge. But the Danes could have even led with a bigger distance as 16:9, if they would have taken their chances more concentrated despite the five goals of Lasse Svan Hansen after 30 minutes. After the break the Danes extended the gap quite quickly and could even save powers for the game against Croatia. When Lasse Boesen scored in minute 43 the distance were ten goals for the first time (23:13). Best Danish player after the break was goalkeeper Niklas Landin, but also his Algerian counterpart Abdelmalek Slahdji showed some great saves. In the last 13 minutes the Danes decelerated completely and gave chances for Algeria for a more comfortable result.

Australia – Romania 14:29 (6:14)

Australia was the ideal opponent for the Romanians after their painful defeat against Algeria the Match day before. So the Europeans could gain self assurance though they knew before the starting whistle that they were out of the race for the Main Round after the Serbian draw. Like their chanceless opponent (still zero points) and Algeria they will go on to the President’s Cup from their group.  After 14 minutes the score was 9:2 then Romania went on to 14:6 at the break and 20:9 in minute 40.

Photos by Axel Heimken