Denmark are through to the Paris 2024 men’s final but they had to hold on for dear life to avoid extra-time against a brilliantly brave Slovenia, winning 31:30.
You wouldn’t blame Slovenia for perhaps letting the occasion of the first Olympic semi-final against the best team in the world get to them.
It took them over eight minutes to finally find a way past Emil Nielsen, through an Aleks Vlah penalty, and they could thank their own goalkeeper Klemen Ferlin for keeping the scoreline respectable with some astonishing saves in the opening minutes and Urban Lesjak coming in for a penalty save against Mikkel Hansen.
But eventually, they found their way into the contest with Dean Bombač finding space and their big men getting stuck in defensively. This brought them back within one but it felt unsustainable unless they could cause a major shift in the play.
Denmark were enjoying too many saves from Nielsen and their transition attack ran too smoothly. Slovenia didn’t necessarily do anything wrong in that first half, they fought hard and found some inventive routes to goal, yet they found themselves 15:10 down heading into the dressing room.
Glimmer of hope
Slovenia looked to open the game up early in the second half, sparking a wave of early goals for both sides and with it came a little glimmer of hope as the deficit was cut to three. Nikolaj Jacobsen responded with a quick timeout and Denmark responded accordingly - normal service resumed.
Aleks Vlah has been a goal-getting machine at these games and it felt like he had an additional point to prove against Denmark, his adopted home, facing some Aalborg clubmates. He and Bombač worked brilliantly together in their two distinct styles to sow the seeds of doubt in Denmark’s minds.
The world champions were doing just enough to keep their opponents at arm’s length, but not comfortably.
Danish collapse
For one night only, Slovenia were ‘Les Blues’ as the “neutrals” in the crowd smelled a dramatic comeback and chanted for their mostly unknown new heroes.
Crucially, at these moments of their games, Denmark simply don’t look like missing enough chances but this time they missed three in a row and left the door open for a momentous comeback. Blaz Janc cut the deficit to a single goal and now it was Denmark’s turn to kill the clock.
Mathias Gidsel fumbled, then he regained the loose ball and won a penalty. Hansen steps up to take it but Ferlin makes the big save, leaving a full 15 seconds for Slovenia to equalise.
Vlah weaves his way through the defence, a gap opens up momentarily but it disappears just as soon as he’s fouled for a free throw, only a free throw, and Borut Mačkovšek can’t find a way through the wall.
It was not a finish Denmark will be proud of but once again it proved enough for them to canter to victory and progress to their third consecutive Olympic men’s final.
It was victory against France in 2016, a loss to France in 2021 and a serious test to come against Germany on Sunday.