Host nation Germany may well need to rely on the expected 11,000 fans at the ZAG-Arena as they take on Croatia in their second game of the Olympic Qualification Tournament #2 in Hanover.

The winners of the afternoon clash will be able to start thinking a lot more seriously about the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, while Algeria and Austria will be doing all they can to keep their dreams alive in the early evening clash after losing their opening matches against Germany and Croatia respectively.

In Tatabanya, the two winning teams from the first day, Hungary and Norway collide, while Portugal and Tunisia have the chance to open their accounts, after a slow start.

Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament 2 – Hanover (Germany)

14:30 CET Germany vs Croatia

Despite the classic rivalry over many years between these two teams, including Olympic Games and IHF World Championship finals, this was always going to come down to one thing:

‘Now the duel against Dagur awaits’ said the headline on the German Handball Federation website, handball.net and that sums this clash up.

Dagur Sigurdsson, installed as Croatia’s first non-native head coach just over two weeks ago, was head coach of Germany’s men’s side from 2014-2017 and delivered their last gold medal, taking the European title in 2016.

He took charge of just his sixth training session with Croatia on Friday after being parachuted in from his Japan head coach job with the sole goal of qualifying the Croatians through to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“He's known for coming up with a few unorthodox things and I'm pretty sure he'll have them ready for us too. It'll be exciting,” said Germany’s left wing Rune Dahmke, one of three current German players who won gold under Sigurdsson, to handball.net.

“He simply understood the sport and can convey that very, very well,” he added. “I'm sure that he also knows about the quality of the Croatian national team. They all understand relatively quickly what he wants from them.”

In competition, Croatia and Germany have met each other 13 times at the Olympic Games, IHF World Championships and EHF European Championships with Croatia winning nine times, losing three times and drawing once.

Most recently, Croatia saw off Germany 30:24 at the EHF EURO 2024. The two sides have met once in the Olympic Games, with Croatia defeating Germany 26:24 at Athens 2004 in the final.
 
“He helped us to control our emotions, because we are a nation that celebrate every foul, every goal and maybe we lose some energy because of this,” explained Croatia’s Ivan Martinovic to ihf.info about what Sigurdsson has already brought to the team.

“He said that we are all great players, we just need to believe and to enjoy, to play handball like we know and this is the key. He's one of the best coaches in the world. He knows what to do but it will be a full atmosphere here. We're very happy that we have the chance to play here. I'm feeling great and we need to show that again a game like we played against Austria, but we need 60 full minutes of playing good handball to win the game.”

Ahead of the game, Germany added goalkeeper Joel Birlehm as a late registration to their squad.

17:30 CET Algeria vs Austria

Both sides enter this game disappointed with losses, if not unexpected ones.

Austria, 5:1 up early on, went down 35:29 to Croatia, while Algeria – who kept in touch with Germany into the second half – succumbed to an eventual 41:29 loss.

“They had a really good European Championship, drawing against Germany and playing really good. They are a big team with lots of big players who play at the biggest clubs in Europe,” said HC Cournon-d'Auvergne and Algeria centre back Nori Selim Benhalima to ihf.info about their opponents on Saturday.

“It will be hard and tough in attack and defence. They are fast in their fast-break so we need to play good in defence – we need to be great in defence and have a big goalkeeper if we want to make something.”

The two teams have never met in official competition, playing just three friendly matches, all in Europe and all won by Austria. A 29:19 win in Presov, Czechia (22/08/1991), 24:21 victory in Krems (20/12/2011) and 30:28 win in Horn (21/12/2011).

“Algeria doesn't have a bad team. They can vary their coverage well, play a good 6-0 defence and are physically tall and fast,” said Austrian coach Ales Pajovic to oehb.at. “This won't be an easy game. We have always talked about Croatia and Germany, but we cannot leave out Algeria.”

Austria left wing Sebastian Frimmel thinks the key to beating the African runners-up is discipline.

“If we keep the middle tight in defence and consistently do the 1:1 actions from them, I am convinced that we can win balls,” he said. “They play a bit undisciplined in attack at times, we can take advantage of that if we play focused in defence and then get into our tempo game. I'm not worried about our attack, it's going well. It’s important to take advantage of our opportunities.”

Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament #3
17:00 CET Portugal vs Tunisia 

Portugal received a heavy blow in their quest to secure their second consecutive berth for the Olympic Games, after conceding a 29:32 loss against Norway in the opener of the Olympic Qualification Tournament #3, in Tatabanya.

Now, the European side faces a must-win match against Tunisia, with another loss denting the final blow for their chances, as the two sides which lost in the first day are clashing in the first match on Saturday.

With some crucial missings in their roster, Tunisia could only stay close to hosts Hungary for 20 minutes in their opener, but eventually went on to concede a nine-goal loss, 24:33, as their underdog status in Tatabanya was confirmed in that match.

“We are preparing, we were already this morning to see what we can improve in relation to yesterday's game, thinking more in us than in Tunisia. However, it is a team that yesterday played 20-25 minutes of excellent quality against Hungary, then ended up losing by nine goals. But we could see that we need to play well against Tunisia, so we will establish the game plan, based on what we can do well and we will see this game as an important game to be well positioned against Hungary,” said Portugal’s coach, Paulo Pereira.

Portugal will rely once again on the Costa brother – Francisco and Martim, who scored 10 goals between them against Norway – as well as line player Luis Frade, the player with the largest number of goals in the first day in Tatabanya, with eight goals under his belt.

The two sides have already met three times, with Portugal taking two wins, 27:26 at the 2003 IHF Men’s World Championship and 34:27 in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Qualification Tournament.

The history might repeat itself, as Portugal could find themselves in the same situation like in the previous Olympic Qualification Tournament they played in, provided they win against Tunisia – with one win and one loss before the final day, when they face Hungary.

19:30 CET Hungary vs Norway

It is the match everybody has been waiting for in Tatabanya, with hosts Hungary facing Norway, a team which had their ups and downs in the past years, but find themselves in a prime situation to clinch a Paris 2024 Olympic Games ticket, as a win here would seriously boost the Scandinavian team’s chances for progression.

Both sides have won in the first day, with Norway taking a 32:29 win against Portugal, while Hungary are in the drivers’ seat, after taking a 33:24 clear win against Tunisia, with a dominating performance from Chema Rodriguez’ side.

“It’s extremely important. We need every goal and every point we can get. It’s a very, very tough group where everybody can beat everybody. We won today but it’s not over yet,” said Norway’s right wing Kristian Bjørnsen for ihf.info.

Indeed, Norway are in an excellent position having won the match against Portugal and are eyeing their second consecutive appearance at the Olympic Games, after finishing seventh at Tokyo 2020, with three wins and three losses in the competition.

Yet they will face a strong opponent in Hungary, a team which they won three times against in the last five years, first at the 2019 IHF Men’s World Championship, 35:26, then at the EHF EURO 2020, 36:29, and lastly at the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship, 33:25. Each of the matches have been clear wins for Norway, which scored an average of 34.6 goals per match.

In fact, Hungary’s last win against Norway in a competitive match came in the Qualification Phase for the 2013 IHF Men’s World Championship, when the current hosts won at home, 27:21, and eliminated the Scandinavian side from contention.

“We are ready to do something big this weekend and this game against Tunisia, which we won, helped us do that," said Chema Rodriguez, Hungary’s coach, as Hungary are aiming to get back to the Olympic Games for the first time in 12 years, after finishing fourth at London 2012.