The match for third place - often enough, this is a not so sporty game of two frustrated teams, whose gold dream burst in the semifinals. But the duel of the German handball players with the French in Herning, Denmark, was a thrilling confrontation, marked by the will of both teams to win this game. With the better end for France, who won 26:25 with a last-gasp goal.
It was a close game - even though the team of national coach Christian Prokop had repeatedly worked out a three-goal lead. But the team of the dethroned defending champion kept coming up. And it was thanks to a very strong goalkeeper Andreas Wolff that the team stayed until the end.
At half-time, Prokop-Six had even gained a four-goal advantage at 13: 9 - but after the change, the French were much more focused on their superstar Nikola Karabatic, catching up on hits and even taking the lead.
The DHB team fought back in return, captain Uwe Gensheimer resembled after 49 minutes again to 19:19 and initiated a handball-typical hectic final phase. It went back and forth, the French were always in the lead. Germany balanced out again and again. Until the last minute Gensheimer had to serve a two-minute penalty. France exploited that in the last second.