France and Germany to battle for the semi-final
After Denmark became the first team from Men’s EHF EURO 2026 group I to qualify for the semi-finals, Wednesday will see a direct clash for the second spot.
Germany will progress with a win or a draw, while France need nothing short of victory to keep their title defence alive.
The remaining three teams still have the chance to proceed to the 5/6 placement match on Friday.
They showed against France how much quality they have. They have a lot of tactical options, they can play so many defences and they can really trick their opponents. I think that Abel Serdio is the best line player of the tournament, they have many options on the back court as well, they can play with big players, smaller ones. They will be really dangerous opponents.
We need a stable defence and strong goalkeepers. Against France recently, we also ran some good fast breaks of our own. We have to stop France’s quick throw-off and their second wave. We managed that for one half against Denmark. But we cannot afford 23 missed shots like we had against Denmark.
They are a very solid team, with very good goalkeepers and a tough defence. I feel like they made some small changes to be even more solid defensively. On the offensive side of things, they have a lot of shooters, they play really fast, with a lot of players changing positions. They seem to be a dominant team in the way they handle the ball.
We want to play a good match against Norway and aim to win. A strong last main round match is the best possible preparation for a semi-final. We play as good as we can, but maybe some players, who played a lot, get a little bit more time on the bench.
I am sure there will be a high tempo. You never know how the goalkeepers on both ends will perform. We have to keep on playing our tempo, but Denmark is the best tempo team in the world. We must avoid their easy goals.
