WOMEN
Norway vs Argentina 1:2
(12:9, 8:9, 6:7)
With their surprise win versus European champions
Norway, Argentina will not only be among the 2017 World Game medallists but
will also make history. They ranked 7th at last year’s World Championships and
came to World Games with the intend to enjoy every match no matter the result.
Their spirit drove them all the way to the 1-4 semi-finals, where the first 4
minutes remained without a goal. It was Argentina who scored first and it took the
reigning European champions almost five minutes to score their first goal. Norway
stole the lead in the 6th minute and did not let it go until the end of the
period.
Throughout the second period, Norway, despite not
being up to their potential, were in the lead until the last minute. But with
two two-point goals Argentina won the second period by one goal and the match
went into shoot-out.
The thrilling and tight shoot-out started with the
lead of Norway, but Argentina levelled an could celebrate in the end as they
beat the European champions and went down into the history of beach handball in
Argentina.
Carolina Rossi, an Argentinian player, said there is
no secret to their success: “It’s work, work and a hard training. I could have
only dreamt about getting this far and I know it’s all because of the team. Our
team is fantastic, we support each other inside and outside the field and we
wanted to show that to the world.”
Spain vs Brazil 0:2
(13:17, 14:15)
The match between 2016 world champions Spain and 2013
World Games champions Brazil was expected to be gripping and tight, and the
spectators were not disappointed.
The first period was a neck-to-neck affair and ended
with four points difference as Spain could not keep up with Brazil towards the
end and let the score 13:13 turn into 13:17 through two two-point goals.
In the second half, the period had to be decided by
the golden goal. Spain won the throw-off and was just one step away from the
shoot-out, but missed their chance to score. However, Brazil did at the very
next moment and burst into celebrations.
Marcia Magliano, the coach of the Brazilian team, was
satisfied with the performance of his team: “We were expecting that intensity
of the match. My players did almost everything that I told them to do and it’s
a great honour to be in the finals.”
MEN
Hungary vs Brazil 0:2
(16:18, 12:16)
Although it was Hungary who scored the first
invigorating goal of the match, Brazil showed that they were hungry for the win
in a nail-biting encounter, and by scoring the last two two-point shots of the
game, they turned a score of 16:14 to 16:18.
In the second set, Brazil kept the lead for themselves
throughout the whole game and won by 4 points 12:16.
However, Brazilian player
Gil Pires was not satisfied with the match: “We need to be better in order to
be the winners. We lost a lot of shots because of our poor attack. The only
reason we won the match is our defence, which I believe is the best in the
world.”
Croatia vs Qatar 2:1
(14:21, 19:18, 7:4)
To end the day, Croatia and Qatar prepared an
outstanding match full of unexpected moments. From the start, Qatar were
considered the better side and without giving the Croatians much space, they
easily finished the first period winning by 7 points.
Qatar were relentless and pulled away to 16:8, when
Croatia seemed to finally wake up for their last call. Afterwards, Croatia let
Qatar score only once and turned six shots into 11 points and the final result
19:18, leaving the Qataris speechless as they were preparing for the thrilling
shoot-out, which was won by Croatia 7:4.
Zvonimir Dikic commented right after the game: “I
still can’t believe it. Qatar played good and it was only one ball that decided
and changed everything. Tomorrow, it will be a new day, new game and we will
definitely try to play better than today. I believe that Croatia vs Brazil is
the best that can be offered to spectators.”
The Brazil vs Croatia finals will be the repetition of
2016 World Championships, where Croatia beat their South American opponents
2:0.