The Northern Europeans from Norway and Denmark have won the decisive matches in Group A and D and finished first. France secured the second place in Group C, defeating Romania by 19 goals. In Group B Korea won the decisive match for rank three against Netherlands.

Before the last four matches of the Preliminary Round these eight-finals are already known:

Norway - Netherlands

Brazil – Ivory Coast

France – Sweden

Croatia – Romania

Denmark - Japan

Group A in Santos:

Norway – Montenegro 28:27 (15:11)

In the second match of the last round in Preliminary Round Group A the match between Norway and Montenegro brought the decision about which team will win this group. After 60 exciting minutes Norway won 28:27 and will now play against the Netherlands. Both teams struggled hard to become first in this group and Montenegro started very well and was in the lead by 2:0 only after 59 seconds. But after this quick start Norway scored nine times in a row with five goals achieved by Linn Jørum Sulland, so that Norway was clearly leading 9:2 after 12 minutes. But after that the match became more and more balanced and Montenegro caught up to four goals after the first 30 minutes (15:11). At the beginning of the second half Norway scored three times. But although they were again seven goals ahead Montenegro did not give up. Goal by goal they came back and were again only four goals down after 49 minutes (20:24). The last ten minutes of this match were very exciting, because the team of Montenegro came close to 24:26 and 26:28 just two minutes before the end, but then they missed a counterattack. Finally Maja Savic scored the 27:28 twelve seconds before the end. But that was too late. Best scorers of this match were Linn Jørum Sulland with nine goals for Norway and Bojana Popovic and Katarina Bulatovic with seven goals each for Montenegro. "It was a big fight of both teams, but Norway was the more experienced team,” said the head coach of Montenegro, Dragan Adsic, after this match. But he was already looking forward to the eight-finals: "On the 11th we have to be on top level, because the most important thing is the way to the Olympics.”

Group B in Barueri:

Netherlands – Korea 26:38 (10:18)

The deciding match for the rankings three and four in Preliminary Round Group B between the Netherlands and Korea turned into a very one-sided affair. Korea won at least highly earned by 38:26 and needed just eleven minutes to get the ball rolling. They started with 3:3, but then the match was dominated by the Korean team, who was leading 18:10 after the first thirty minutes. After the break Korea continued hunting for goals. Temporarily they were ahead by twelve goals (23:11, 36.). But then they saved power for the upcoming tasks in the eight-final. In the end it was a well-deserved win for the Asian team. Best scorers of the match were the two Korean players Cha Youn Kim and Im Jeong Choi who both scored eight times.

Group C in Sao Paulo:

Romania – France 20:39 (12:20)

Brilliant French performance and Romanian disaster: Whilst France secured the second place in the final ranking of this group, Romania nearly gave the third place off their hands. After Japan had reduced the former gap in the goal difference from 29 to 21, Romania gave additional 19 goals. With only two goals less than Romania they rank fourth in the end and will face Denmark in the eight-final.

Even before the break France came over the Romanians like a storm as of the 15th minute. Prior to this, both teams were on eye level, with constantly changing leads. But after the 6:6 in minute 14, Romania became weaker in attack, whereas the French team reorganized their defence perfectly. With this stone solid wall they brought Romania to their knees. The Eastern Europeans missed too many chances or lost the balls, as France scored one counterattack goal after the other. France went away to 15:9 and already decided the game with an eight-goal margin (20:12) at the break.

Only three minutes later France was leading by ten goals for the first time (23:13) – and the Romanian disaster continued. France was clearly dominant not only in attack, but also on the goalkeeper position. In the final stage Romania did not show any resistance at all, even when France decelerated, they extended the lead to 15 goals at the 32:17 thanks to their successful counterattacks.

Group D in Sao Bernardo do Campo:

Sweden – Denmark 19:20 (8:9)

Despite a long list of injured players, Denmark won Group D thanks to their fifth victory in the fifth match. The Danes now face Japan in the eight-finals, whilst Sweden (third ranked in this group in the end) will meet France in the knock-out stage.

The first half was everything but a handball deli, as only the defence marked the game. Both goalkeepers – Grundström (Sweden) and Pedersen (Denmark) showed a strong performance, and both attack sides could hardly break through to score. So Sweden and Denmark neutralized themselves – with slight advantages for the Danish team. The game lacked goals in the first 30 minutes despite the loud and colourful spectators in red (Denmark) or yellow (Sweden). At least the duel on the stands was won by the Danes. On the field Sweden had to stand the head injury of Jessica Helleberg in minute 22, but right after that they were leading 7:6. But as Denmark had the better shooters from the wing position they took the lead to the dressing room, even as Johanna Ahlm scored the last goal before the break for Sweden by a penalty shot.

And the second half remained the same: Less goals, strong and aggressive defence sides marking the attackers very early and no bigger margin than two goals between both teams and leads still changing. And as the performance level on the field still not increased, the Danish spectators celebrated themselves. But when goalkeeper legend Karin Mortensen replaced Christina Pedersen, they could cheer for their team again, as the saves of Mortensen brought Denmark back the two-goal lead at 17:15 in minute 51. But still nothing was decided yet.

Sweden fought hard ton win the points, but in contrast to the first half they were not patient enough in attack, whilst Mortensen saved additional shots. 62 seconds before the end Denmark was away with 20:18 and in ball possession – but by losing the ball twice, the Danes brought Sweden back to life. After the 19:20 Sweden had the last chance of this game, but Linnea Torstenson failed with a direct free throw.

Statements after the match:

Jan Pytlick, coach Denmark: It was as expected a tough match with two strong defence sides. Both teams had problems in attack and missed many opportunities. In the decisive stage we were a little bit sharper in our action, aside the saves of Karin Mortensen were important. Although we miss eight players of our EURO 2010 squad, our young team shows a great performance here. But we have to be aware of Japan in the eight-final, as they are difficult to play.

Per Johansson, coach Sweden: We had several changes to take the lead in this close match, but we failed too often, especially in counterattacks. It is not bad luck to lose two matches with a one-goal margin, but missing skills.