The first day of the 5-8 Placement Matches started the final weekend of games at Poland 2018 in the Hall Legionow.

In the first of two all-European ties, EURO W17 champions Germany beat Spain 24:20 while in the later game, Denmark beat Netherlands on penalty shots.

Day One: 5-8 Placement Matches - Saturday 18 August, Hall Legionow
All times local

Spain vs Germany 20:24 (9:11)
Germany managed to forget the disappointment of their 30:29 quarter-final defeat against Korea two days ago to beat Spain easily and ensure they will play for fifth place tomorrow - and whatever the result, achieve their second highest-ever ranking at this level.

In terms of scoring, the first half saw blocks of two and three-goal runs from both sides throughout, with the teams locked all-square at 8:8 in the 22nd minute, but the Germans rounded-off an impressive five-minute spell (21st-26th) to end the opening period 11:9 up.

But the real story of the opening half for Spain was their failure to score from 11 nine-metre chances as they found it hard to get in behind the German defence, led by goalkeeper Charley Zenner who ended the first period with a 44% save rate (39% in the match), as she made stops at crucial points.

The second half was an amplified version of the first half, in terms of the series of scoring runs, with German right wing Julia Weise - who had started the game with 18 goals from 18 strikes - again an integral part of the dynamic German attack.

Weise scored four times in a row in a 6:0 run from the Germans (39th-46th minute), to put her side 19:11 up with just under a quarter of the match remaining - all of this after Spain coach Alfredo Rodriguez had taken a time out after just three minutes in the second half to adjust his side.

While the Germans may have thought that was it, Spain then outscored them 9:4 over the remainder of the match but it fell just short despite a healthy support from their fans inside Hall Legionow.

"It's a good result, but we wanted to play for first, second or third position," said Weise after the game. 

"It was a good match, for me especially, and playing for fifth is OK as it was very important to win this [after losing to Korea].

"It's very special for me," said Weise about coming into the game with a 100% scoring record (18/18), now 92.5% (25/27). "My teammates congratulate me on this of course, but now, fifth place is important for us."

"The situation after the Korea game was very difficult, but we have a good team emotion - they worked OK as a team and we won today," said Germany coach Maik Nowak to IHF.info. "The team is strong and fluid, but we only want to win - tomorrow will be very difficult.

"Our dream was to get a medal, but we made mistakes against Romania and the Korea performance was good but they were more lucky. We have many players and over the next years we will work and work and work."

During the match the Spain coaching staff and squad had worn black armbands in honour of Manuel María Meléndez Falkowski, former General Director of the Spanish Handball Federation, who passed away on Thursday afternoon.

Best players of the match: Sara MOLES LOPEZ (ESP), Julia WEISE (GER)

Netherlands vs Denmark 29:31 (2:4 SO) (27:27) (10:10)
Nothing could separate these teams in the normal 60 minutes so, as is normal for placement matches at IHF World Championships, it went to a shoot out eventually won by Denmark, thanks to two saves from Danish goalkeeper Anna Opstrup Kristensen  from the Netherlands' Sarah Dekker and Nikita Van Der Vliet, which ensured a 4:2 victory.

In the previous 60 minutes of action the teams could not be separated as both defences did their job, resulting in just 20 total goals, but that total had already been reached by the end of the third quarter as Denmark had a slight lead (21:19 - 45th minute).

But the Dutch, without Larissa Nusser who flew back to Denmark last night to rejoin her club, Kobenhavn, saw their tournament top-scorer Nikita Van Der Vliet lead them through the final quarter as she scored three times and led her team to the 60-minute deadlock.

"I am so happy," said Danish goalkeeper Kristensen after the shoot out win. "We really wanted to win to prove that we should be in the semi-finals [after our loss to Russia in the quarter-finals] and we also wanted to make a good exit from this tournament.

"The first night [after the Russia loss] we didn't sleep much as we were very disappointed," she continued. "Yesterday, we went to the gym and trained and that really helped to use our bodies, some of us were with our parents last night and we had moved on and we really wanted to show everybody we should have been in the semi-final.

"Of course we prepare and watch videos, I took a chance, I thought that 'oh, I know that she is going to shoot there so you just take a chance and hope that it's for the best, because the odds are not that great from penalties and you just go all in."

Best players of the match: Nikita VAN DER VLIET (NED), Emilie Bodholdt STEFFENSEN (DEN)