As of Thursday, all teams have played their first game of the Main Round. Here are 3 things about the first match day of the Main Round.
The first match day of the Main Round saw favorites do their job and also big upsets. The World Championship is starting to get real interesting.
1: The big upset
Denmark playing in front of over 6700 fanatic supporters in Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning – surely Japan would have nothing to say in that game. But they surely did. After a very tight and entertaining game, Denmark scored the equaliser with just seconds remaining. Japan would however get one more chance to win the game and with just 3 seconds left Hikaru Matsumoto scored the goal that won the game for Japan. The biggest upset so far in the World Championship but not a loss that will mean that much for Denmark, a team that will probably claim the first spot in the Main Round group III.
WATCH THIS!!
— (Un)informed Handball Hour (@HandballHour) December 7, 2023
JAPAN beat Denmark in the last second with an in-flight winner!
Absolutely wild scenes! pic.twitter.com/j7EdYtSXq0
2: The other favorites got the job done
There is a lot of criticism regarding the number of “bad” teams participating at the World Championship and that alone is a different topic for a different day. What we can claim for sure is that all of the top teams, besides Denmark, did their job on the first match day of the Main Round. Sweden destroyed Cameroon, Norway did the same against Angola, France beat Austria by 14 goals and the Netherlands took care of Brazil without any problems.
3: Goodbye to big wins – now the “real” World Championship begins
Let’s be honest here. Teams like Cameroon, Senegal, Ukraine, and Argentina have nothing to do in the Main Round of a World Championship. At least not yet. But because they are here a lot of the games are one-sided. That is not how we want it to be but now at least the one-sided games will, at least in part, be replaced with big games between great teams.
The second match day of the Main Round will see Hungary against Sweden, Slovenia against Norway, and Serbia against Germany. Three games where, even though Sweden and Norway are big favorites in their respective games, could see some drama. And that’s exactly what we all have been waiting for.
