Russia will play Norway in the final of this World Championship. The reigning World Champions managed an easy win over Romania, Norway had to fight hard before booking their ticket to the final.


Russia - Romania 30:20 (17:8)

In a very dominant and concentrated manner Russia cruised to the final, while the Romanian team looking very weak and tired. Never did it look as if they were afraid to lose the match. The squad under Jewgeny Trefilow earned their third consecutive WCh final ticket after 2001 and 2005. Three players, Romenskaya, Poltoratskaya and Kareeva, have the possibility to gain their third WCh gold medal. Russia had the match under perfect control with help of a compact and flexible defence and a better offence. Even when Russia suffered from several suspensions, Romania was not able to break the Russian wall. Based on a strong defence Russia then was ‘cold as ice'. Another advantage for Russia was the bench: Despite the injuries of key players Liudmila Bodnieva, Ekaterina Marennikova and Irina Bliznova, coach Jewgeny Trefilow still had more and better options. After 9:6, Russia extended the lead to a comfortable 17:8 half-time score. During the second interval it looked as if Romania lacked power after the breathtaking quarter-final against France. Russian goalkeeper Inna Suslina and top scorer Liudmila Postnova (nine goals, player of the match) showed a great performance, best scorer for Romania was Mairosu with five goals.

Quotes:
Gheorghe Tadici (Romania): "The exhausting and thrilling quarter-final with two extensions was too much for my players. They were physically and mentally exhausted. After 30 minutes the goal difference was evident, making it rather impossible to catch up again."
Jewgeny Trefilow (Russia): "A big compliment to my whole team. Now we have it in our hands to qualify for the Olympics. My team was very concentrated 60 minutes long, while Romania lost too much power in the last match. This was not the normal way of playing for Romania, which can do better."

Norway - Germany 33:30 (19:16)
Germany was a whisker's away to reach the final but finally could not stand the Norwegian serenity. The spectators looked very surprised, as Germany's World Handball Player Nadine Krause was able to play despite her painful ankle injury. And still, she became the second best German scorer in the first half, contributing five goals. In the end, Grit Jurack showed .an outstanding performance again to lead the overall top scorer ranking with twelve goals to increase her overall scoring rate to 73 goals. But this was not enough to jump ahead until minute 47 against a Norwegian team with a strong goalkeeper Katrine Lunde Haraldsen. The Scandinavians played nearly perfect fast break handball in the beginning. The European champions punished every German mistake in offence. Towards the end of the first half Norway did lack some concentration to enable the German side to come close to 16:19. But in the second half Norway became nervous and Germany improved, especially goalkeeper Sabine Englert. Every save made Englert more self-confident. Germany was leading 26:25 - and it seemed as if the match turned upside down. But when Stefanie Melbeck got injured and Norway's goalkeeper Terede Pedersen started a series of great saves, Norway got the match under control again. The Norwegians celebrated a lot, while the Germans could not hide their disappointment Like last year in Sweden they were very close to the final but missed it by a whisker.

Quotes:
Marit Breivik (Norway): "I'm very happy to be in the final, as we had to play the very best to win against the strong German side. Now I hope that we can also beat Russia. Both teams know each other, it will be a tough final."
Armin Emrich (Germany): "My team played an outstanding match which was decided in the last five minutes when we committed the greater number of mistakes. But a big compliment to my team - and I hope they will be able to win the bronze medal tomorrow. They deserve this medal."