All teams have played their second game of the Main Round. Here are 3 things about the second match day of the Main Round.
1: New record attendance in Sweden
10 561 people came to Scandinavium in Gothenburg to watch Sweden take on Hungary. The atmosphere was amazing and the Swedish players seemed to enjoy the big attendance. As a matter of fact this was a new record attendance for Sweden women’s national team in Sweden. This was the third time during the World Championship that the record was beaten. Amazing for women’s handball and women’s handball in Sweden in particular. And yeah, Sweden won the game in convincing fashion.
2: Denmark bounced back
After the shocking last-second loss against Japan Denmark bounced back in great fashion against Poland. Kristina Jörgensen had one of those games where she was unstoppable and Denmark won, 32–22. This was a huge win for Denmark and extra impressive because of the pressure that is on the team playing in front of the fanatic crowd in Herning and with the hope from a whole nation on their shoulders. But Denmark still needs to beat Germany if they want to finish first in their group and (probably) have an “easier” draw in the quarter-finals.
3: Netherlands is THE dark horse
There is a lot of talk about the Scandinavian teams, meaning Norway, Denmark, and, in part, Sweden. And then France is always a candidate for the medals, but there hasn’t been that much talk about the Netherlands and their chance to take home a medal. But remember, they won the gold four years ago in Japan and still have a great team with a perfect mix of experience and youth. Per Johansson is a great coach who knows how to get it done at this level and he probably enjoys the fact that Netherlands can go a bit under the radar during the World Championship.
