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Date: 12/14/2007
 

 The first decisions on the last but one matchday: France and Korea will play for 5th and 6th place on Sunday, while Hungary meeting with Angola ranks 7/8.

Korea - Angola 41:33 (23:12)
In an intercontinental and one-sided match - the top-score match of this WCh tournament so far - the Koreans were the first team to qualify for the placement match 5/6 on Sunday (11.30). The decision was made quickly, as surprising Angola side lacked power and concentration they showed before as well as speed to stand the Asian team. So Korea rushed away to 11:4 ('15) and extended the lead to 19:12 on minute 27. At this time Angola had already resigned, especially after the margin increased to ten goals (12:22). In the second halft nothing changed, Korea maintained the lead, even though Angola netted some spectacular goals from the back-court and performed brilliantly during the last ten minutes. Both defence rows left too much space to the opponents to allow many goals. 74 goals meant a new goal record in this tournament. Best scorers were Sunhee Woo (Korea/11 goals) and Marcelina Kiala (Angola/nine goals). Angola now has to wake up early on Sunday, as they will play the first placement match (7/8) at 9.00. But this team has still a chance to qualify directly for the Olympics, as they host the African qualifying tournament in January - and are the clear favourites after this brilliant appearance in France.

Quotes:
Jinsoo Kim (Korea): "We were highly motivated to win this match after our weak performance again Norway. One reason for the victory was our improvement in offence. Now we hope we will be able to win tomorrow to gain a spot in the Olympic qualifying tournament."

Geronimo Neto (Angola): "We are happy to play and learn here. It is some kind of preparation for us in view of the African qualifying round for Beijing in January. We had a very bad start in this match. Later on we improved but were unable to catch up the great margin."

Hungary - France 27:32 (15:16)
Like in the 2003 WCh final, France overcame Hungary, however, under different circumstances. After their win, France will play Korea on Sunday for fifth rank. Until the score of 5:5 the match, which may also play a decisive role as for the hosting of an Olympic qualifying tournament, was absolutely well-balanced. Due to strong goalkeeper Valeria Nicolas, a very concentrated Veronique Pecquex-Rolland and Hungary's weak defence France went straight ahead to 14:9 ('24). But the host was unable to maintain this lead until changing ends. When Hungary had waken up they scored a series of 6:2 to a half-time score of 15:16. Thanks to goalkeeper Katalin Palinger, Anita Görbicz and Timea Toth (together 13 of Hungary's 16 goals in the first 30 minutes) everything was possible again. But the Magyar team did not manage to burst, yet equalised several times, last but not least because of Nicolas shining between the posts. Until the score of 27:26 the match was very close again before three consecutive French goals delivered the pre-decision on minute 56 (30:26). Best scorers were Stephanie Cano (France/five goals) and Timea Toth (Hungary/ten goals) followed by Anita Görbicz (eight goals).

Quotes:
Andras Nemeth (Hungary): "France was the better team, especially as they had better opportunities for substitution. Our performance was not sufficient."
Olivier Krumbholz (France): It was a strong performance in a very important match. My team was highly motivated, especially in the last and deciding 15 minutes of the match. Although we missed too many chances, my team fought 60 minutes long. I hope this victory is a good sign for tomorrow's match against Korea."

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