Handball Day 14 Review: Favorite France and outsider Iceland ready for gold

(BEIJING, August 22) -- A solid French team beat Croatia, and underdog Iceland overpowered Spain in the semifinals of the Men's competition at the National Indoor Stadium on Friday, August 22.

Semifinals

France vs. Croatia: 25-23

Les Bleus got the upper hand over former Olympic champion Croatia and advanced to the gold medal match, where they will face outsider Iceland.

Both teams started the first half nervously, before Croatia took a slight lead through a series of goals by star player Ivano Balic. France struggled to get through a tight Croatian defense, although Cedric Burdet scored by long shots and again became the team's top scorer with six goals.

The second half saw France targeting Balic, using a 5-1 defense to block him. Also, Croatian goalie Alilovic seemed not at his best, saving only 19 percent of shots. "Score machine" Nikola Karabatic (FRA) stood out and gave an improved display, but the most exceptional performance in this match was given by Daniel Narcisse, who nailed two shots at the end of the second half to seal a narrow victory for France over Croatia.

Now Croatia will fight over the bronze medal with Spain, who just lost to a dogged Iceland.

Iceland vs. Spain: 36-30

A bullheaded Iceland team outplayed 2005 world champion Spain and went from a disadvantage position to taking the upper hand. This victory marked their entrance into the gold medal match with Les Bleus. It will be Iceland's first time playing in the finals in the Olympics.

Five goals in a row from the Icelandic team gave Spain a blow in the first five minutes, forcing Spain to take an early time-out in the first half to readjust the tactics. Duo Juan Garcia and Iker Romero helped Spain make a come back by contributing five goals each.

For the first 40 minutes a focused Spain managed to keep Iceland's lead at a narrow margin. Later on, Iceland steadily advanced, with left back Logi Geirsson scoring seven goals. The intense game saw a rush of two-minute suspensions and Spain's Carlos Prieto was sent off court with a red card.

Albert Rocas scored a team-high seven goals out of eleven tries for Spain, while Geirsson and Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson both contributed seven goals for Iceland.

Placement Matches 5-8

Russia vs. Denmark: 28-27

Overturning the result of the preliminary round, Russia defeated Denmark with a narrow margin.

The Russian team will now play in the classification match with Poland for fifth and sixth place, while Denmark will face the Republic of Korea in the seventh and eighth classification match.

The Danes showed little interest in winning in the first half, with goalie Peter Henriksen playing the entire 30 minutes yet saving only 15 percent of the shots. This gave Russia the chance to attack and ensured they had no difficulty advancing. Alexey Kamanin (RUS) was relentless from the 9m line, and Konstantin Igropulo (RUS) often broke through Denmark's defense.

Denmark put up a good fight in the second half, but it was too little, too late. Lars Troels Joergensen (DEN) was punished with a red card in the last minute of the game, after three two-minute suspensions. Although Mikkel Hansen nailed two goals and made Denmark take a 27-25 lead, Russia pushed forward and leveled the game, and Alexey Kamanin fired a last-minute goal from 9m to secure the win.

Poland vs. the Republic of Korea: 29-26

Poland will compete for fifth place after overpowering the ROK, and the Asian side will face off against Croatia for seventh to eighth place.

The game started slowly, but midway through the first half Poland increased the speed of play and the goal gap, taking a one-goal lead before the break, 15-14. Right-wing Mariusz Jurasik scored a team-high seven goals for Poland and orchestrated the team's play for the last 45 minutes. Though Poland did not play their best defense, goalkeeper Slawomir Szmal was in form, saving 19 of 45 shots.

The Republic of Korea struggled throughout, but right-back Yoon Kyung-shin gave Poland a wake-up call seven minutes into the second half, when he scored three goals from 9m. He was also the top scorer for the ROK team, with six goals out of ten attempts.