Had Denmark not beaten France in the teams’ opening match of the main round, the host nation would in practice have been eliminated. The stars – Mathias Gidsel, Simon Pytlick and Emil Nielsen – stepped up and secured a 32–29 victory. As a result, the group is now wide open heading into the remainder of the competition.
There was considerable pressure on Denmark ahead of the evening’s match against France, as the tournament favorite had lost to Portugal in the final group-stage game. Another defeat and Denmark would more or less have been eliminated with three matches still to play in the main round.
The start, and the first half in general, was somewhat tense from the home side, which struggled to generate any effective attacking play against a strong French defense.
The first half did not offer much flair, featuring a low tempo and plenty of technical errors, though both teams displayed solid defensive play. At halftime, France led 12–11, increasing the pressure on the Danish team.
Improved play in the second half
The second half saw both a higher tempo and better overall play. Momentum swung back and forth a few times, but the feeling throughout was that Denmark would pull through, largely thanks to Mathias Gidsel and Simon Pytlick (as usual) stepping up.
In addition, Charles Bolzinger had a tougher second half after having been at least as good as Emil Nielsen in the first. After the break, however, Nielsen dominated between the posts, and that’s where the match turned.
France played some fine attacking handball and, instead of Dika Mem and Elohim Prandi – both of whom had a difficult evening – much of the responsibility fell on Aymeric Minne and Thibaud Briet. France could just as easily have won the match, but were too careless in the closing stages.
Denmark won 32–29, meaning the group is now completely open.
After all teams have played one match each in the main round, Germany are on 4 points, while Denmark, France, Portugal and Norway all have 2 points. Spain remain on 0 points.