By beating Angola clearly, thanks to an improvement after the break, Russia will play for the places 5 and 6 on Sunday 18 December. The defending World Champion will face the winner of the match Brazil vs. Croatia, while Angola will compete with the loser of this match.

Placement Round 5-8:

Russia – Angola 41:31 (17:18)

Both teams needed some time to find their rhythm into the match. As Russia still seemed to be shocked about their unexpected failure in the quarter-final against France, Angola showed a real strong performance in the first half. Thanks to their good defence they avoided the furious Russian back court shots and on the other hand they caused problems to the Russian defence. Even though the defending champion extended their gap to 14:11, the African champion kept focused and concentrated on the game: They took their chance to profit from some Russian mistakes, scored five straight goals, took over the lead (15:14), and kept it until halftime.

But after the break the Europeans improved, played much more concentrated in attack, scored with a higher efficiency and strengthened their defence – the result of all of this was a 25:20 lead in the 39^th minute and the fact that Angola slowly resigned. And as Russian goalkeeper Maria Sidorowa increased her saving percentage the match was decided in the middle of the second half. In the 51^st, Postnova hit the back of the net for the first ten goals margin at 35:25.

Statements after the match:

Francisco Eduardo, coach Angola: We started well, but in the second half we were not in the physical condition to play like in the beginning. If our players would have been in the same shape, we would have been able to keep the match open for a longer time.

Jewgeny Trefilow, coach Russia: We managed to win – but 31 conceded goals against Angola are too much. But I have to say that the Angolan team really improved in the previous years.

Luisa Kiala, player Angola: Russia took the profit of our mistakes. But I hope we have the power to win the next match.

Natalia Shipilova, player Russia: When we increased our concentration and thanks to our efficient counter attacks, we managed to win clearly in the end. No matter, if we face Brazil or Croatia, we need to win the 5/6 placement match, as then we might be the host of one of those Olympic Qualification Tournaments.