A variety of mathematical scenarios means that Montenegro, Slovenia and Angola all have the chance to qualify through to the main round of the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship in the final round of Group A matches tonight.

Two of the three places for progression are still available with Olympic champions France safely through.

Angola’s predicament is simple, they have to win against Slovenia in the first match of the day at the Palau d’Esports de Granollers and hope for some help in the other match. Anything less than victory will see their opponents confirmed, along with Montenegro in the following match.

Angola vs Slovenia 18:00 CET

Two 20:30 losses have seen Angola show their potential but leave the court emptyhanded against both France and Montenegro and their Spain 2021 journey at a crossroads.

A win for Angola will not confirm a place in the next round by itself. Victory, combined with a Montenegro win or draw against France will, or if they score more than 29 goals against Slovenia and win by exactly 10 goals. The final scenario sees an 11-goal or more win combined with Montenegro losing against France.

“While there's life, there's hope,” said a philosophical Angola coach Felipe Cruz to ihf.info about the possibility of progressing through. “The players will try as hard as they can and they will do whatever they can. It will be very hard, they know, but they will take some lessons from the mismatch (against France) and will try to apply them against Slovenia.”

Angola have recent World Championship history against Slovenia, beating them 33:24 at Japan 2019, a championship where Slovenia finished in their lowest-ever rank, 19th. Superstar Ana Gros was there in Japan but in Spain she was hardly used against France (11 minutes) while Elizabeth Omoregie managed just five minutes on court as Slovenia coach Dragan Adzic managed their time as they returned to 100% fitness

Adzic confirmed ahead of the Angola showdown that both players will be ready with Gros likely to reach a personal milestone of 600 goals for her country against the African champions, with 596 in the bank already.

“We will be much more competitive this time than we were in Japan two years ago,” said Adzic, who took the Slovenia role in April. 

“Here in Spain, they showed an extremely good first half against France and then a very poor performance against the Montenegrins. They have great potential. They are demanding competitors, serial African champions and participants in the Olympic Games, where they were only a short distance from the quarter-finals six months ago.”

"We have a difficult match ahead of us,” added Slovenia player Aneja Beganovic to rokometna-zveza.si. “The Angolans should not be underestimated. The biggest danger is from the line as both of their players are extremely physically strong and tall. Our wish is to fight all 60 minutes, help each other in defence and play focused in attack."

France vs Montenegro 20:30 CET

Any thoughts people may have had that France would suffer from a post-Olympic Games hangover following gold in Tokyo in August have been well and truly dispelled by Olivier Krumbholz and his blue machine in Granollers.

Despite losing a number of names inextricably linked to French Olympic, World and European titles in the past few years, his side have started in Spain where they left off in Japan. Winning and winning well.

Just how quickly his blend of experience, inexperience and debutants has gelled together in a coherent force on court is evidenced in double-figure wins over both Angola (30:20) and Slovenia (29:18).

Montenegro, led by their effervescent captain Jovanka Radicevic, will prove a tougher test but Krumbholz’s side simply do not give up – epitomised by the scorer of goal number 29 against Slovenia, Coralie Lassource.

With the game won and the seconds ticking down to 60:00 on the clock, Lassource was switched on, focused and quickest to react to the save of a last-gasp France shot from Oceane Sercien Ugolin attack. In a smooth move, she reached down, whipped the ball from under the nose of the Slovenian defender to sink home and cue wild scenes from the French.

"I was like crazy on the bench because this action showed our mentality, our spirit and I'm very happy,” said Grace Zaadi Duena, who was more than happy to talk about her teammate to ihf.info despite a hummel Player of the Match performance. 

“This is what we want to do: we want to play to the end, we want to play all balls that we can have, 100%. It was a very beautiful action which showed the French mentality."

Mentality is a word well known over on the Montenegrin bench and the spirit of 2012 runs through the team just about on court still and on the bench too which includes coach Popovic, who is well aware of the mathematics, she did not stop her players celebrating at the end of their Angola victory (30:20) as they could almost touch the main round.

After a historic best-ever fifth place rank at Japan 2019, Montenegro will be looking for more in Spain and France will test what they have to show.

The teams most recently met in the preliminary round at the 2020 European Championship with France coming from behind at the break to beat the Montenegrins 24:23.

France are set to be missing right back Laura Flippes who suffered an injury to her ankle in a transition. The French Handball Federation reported it initially as a sprain, with further tests to be made. And to highlight the team spirit, Flippes was carried onto court at the end of the clash by teammate Tamara Horacek to join in the qualification celebrations.