After a preliminary group campaign which saw them lose two games, France are starting to fire on full power with their second knockout win in two days, coming from behind to beat Denmark today after their victory against the hosts Spain yesterday. The result for the 1998 generation is their fourth win in recent championships, following two wins at the 2017 IHF Men's Youth World Championship in Georgia and the Men's U20 EHF EURO last year in Slovenia.

QUARTER-FINAL
France vs Denmark 35:32 (14:16)
Pavillon Municipal de Deportes de Pontevedra

France are beginning to look like world champions again, and Denmark saw first-hand evidence of that today. Despite a first half where the French were behind for large periods, they came back in the final minute, only to go into the break two down (16:14), thanks to two late Emil Laerke strikes.

A goal every minute kept the crowd entertained in Pontevedra in the opening period, but more came in the second period where France finally broke free in the last five minutes, thanks to a 5:0 scoring run which ended with Danish goalkeeper Gauthier Ivah sitting, dejected, on his post with a few seconds remaining, thinking how close they had come to making the last four yet again after his side had shown a strong defence for most of the match.

The second half had seen Noah Gaudin receive a red card for his defensive exploits with just under a quarter of an hour remaining and the score locked at 25:25. Gaudin looked dejected walking to the spectator seats, maybe feeling he let his team down, but the sheer quality on court and off the bench for France paved the way with the recently-arrived left back Elohim Prandi putting in a big shift to end with seven goals and a best player of the match award after helping to push his side over the line.

“It was a very difficult game,” said France coach Johann Delattre after the game to SpainHandball19.com. “We have players that make a difference in the important moments.”

“It was a very intense match,” said Prandi. “Denmark is a great team playing this sport great. It was an important win because in the first half we were not good, so we are very happy (with the win).”

Denmark coach Stefan Madsen was clear with what led to the defeat of his long side. “We knew it was going to be a very difficult match because France is an exceptional team,” he said. “We made too many mistakes late in the game and unfortunately could not keep up the good work that we did during the 50 minutes previously.”

Best Player of the Match: Elohim Prandi (FRA)