The teams with the largest number of appearances in the final of the IHF Women’s World Championship, France and Norway, will face off once again for the title, after France outplayed Sweden in the second semi-final at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023, 37:28.

SEMI-FINAL
Sweden vs France 28:37 (11:19)

Two days ago, in the quarter-finals, Sweden jumped to a 7:0 lead against Germany, which proved to be unassailable, as the Scandinavian side conceded their first goal after 14 minutes and seven seconds.

On Friday, they were served a portion of their own medicine, as France were cruising in the semi-final against Tomas Axner’s side, taking a commanding 13:3 lead after only 18 minutes, with a total domination on both sides of the ball, even with two team time-outs taken by Sweden in the first 12 minutes.

As France’s preparations were hit by a flu outbreak in the squad, it looked like Sweden were in with a chance, but the Scandinavian side scored their first goal after five minutes and 13 seconds. The second one after two more minutes. By the 18th minute, Sweden had only three goals under their belt, as France were already up 10 goals, 13:3.

Powered by a superb performance from Laura Glauser, with five saves for a 83% saving efficiency after 11 minutes and 30 seconds, France shined on the fast breaks, using a 76% shooting efficiency to open that gap, with the average France attack taking 21.5 seconds until a shot, while Sweden spent over 35 seconds on average until a shot.

And usually, those attempts failed, especially as the back line, expertly led by Jamina Roberts in the past matches, was left lacking, as the experienced left back missed her first four shots, while Sweden scored only one of their first 10 shots from nine metres, for a 10% efficiency. 

By half-time, Sweden were down eight goals, 19:11, and the game looked done and dusted, with France being true experts in protecting early leads, with excellent performances during the past years in these types of situations, especially as Glauser had a 50% saving efficiency at the break, while Sweden managed to convert only 40% of their attacks.

On the flip side, though, things could not go worse for the Scandinavian side and any type of improvement would have been welcomed in the second half and that was exactly what happened in the first minutes, when Sweden used a 4:1 run to cut the gap to five goals, eventually prompting a team time-out from Olivier Krumbholz, who tried to cut any possibility of a comeback from the get-go.

It proved to be the right decision, as France kept the gap constant in the zone of six or seven goals, with Sweden turning the ball over too many times to realistically hold a chance in this match. With their 37:28 win, where back Tamara Horacek scored nine times, France remained perfect in semi-finals at the IHF Women’s World Championship, winning seven out of seven, the only team with such a record with at least two semi-finals played.

It was the largest win in any of the seven semi-finals played for France, as well as the one with the largest number of goals scored, 37, nine more than the previous record, 28.

France have now sealed their seventh spot in the final of the IHF Women’s World Championship, their second one back-to-back in their history, as well as the third in the last four editions, being one of the most consistent sides in the world handball flagship competition.

In the last act at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023, France and Norway will fight for the title for the fifth time in history, with Norway taking three wins until now, with France sealing the gold medal only once against the Scandinavian side, at Germany 2017.

Sweden, on the other hand, will challenge Denmark for their first-ever medal at the IHF Women’s World Championship, in the bronze medal match on Sunday, as the Scandinavian side lost their maiden match in this edition, seeing their seven-match winning streak snapped.

hummel Player of the Match: Laura Glauser (France)