Trondheim (Norway) (AFP)
The Danes, defending Olympic and world champions, were surprised in their first handball Euro match by Iceland, 31 to 30, Saturday in Malmö, Sweden.
We suspected that the investment of the big favorites for the Olympic gold medal would not be maximum in this Euro located just over six months from the Tokyo Games. But from there to imagine this defeat, and what is more in a city which is only separated from Copenhagen by a bridge over an arm of the sea!
Iceland is not yet in its first coup, it which had taken the silver medal at the Beijing Games and the bronze at Euro-2010, and it has an exceptional player, the half-center of Barcelona Aron Palmarsson, whose duel with the back of PSG Mikkel Hansen was top flight: 10 goals to 9.
The two teams engaged in a crossover in which the gap never exceeded three goals (for Iceland). Denmark had the last equalization ball in hand but failed to get into a shooting position.
Denmark can still qualify for the main round provided they beat Hungary and Russia, two teams they will have to be wary of. The Magyars won 26-25 against the Russians thanks to 7 goals from Zsolt Balogh (including 5 penalties). But he made a bad move in terms of reaching the last square, in the half of the most elevated table where also appear Norway, Sweden and France.
In the least dense part, Spain, on the contrary, took a first step towards the semi-finals by sweeping Germany 33-26 in Trondheim in the duel of the last two European champions (2018 and 2016).
The Spaniards were ten steps ahead ten minutes from the end, thanks to 7 goals from Alex Dujshebaev and 12 saves from Gonzalo Perez de Vargas, before rolling out.
The third big contender, Croatia, won his second victory in two games against Belarus, 31-23 in Graz, Austria, not far from his border, with 6 goals from Igor Karacic.
© 2020 AFP