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Denmark cruise to main round after extending unbeaten run to 30 matches

16 Jan. 2025

Denmark cruise to main round after extending unbeaten run to 30 matches

Italy and Denmark have already secured their berths for the main round of the 2025 IHF Men's World Championship, after the reigning world champions extended their unbeaten run to 30 matches, with a 32:21 victory over Tunisia.

GROUP B
Denmark vs Tunisia 32:21 (17:7)

Both teams actually won the trophies in recent IHF Men’s World Championship editions, as Denmark secured the title in 2019, 2021, and 2023, and Tunisia claimed the President’s Cup in both 2021 and 2023. Yet the gap between the two sides is big - 24 places in the final standings in both editions, and the encounter in Herning – especially the first half -  showed that there is still a considerable gap between the two rivals.

The opening minutes followed the same pattern, as Emil Nielsen produced some more highlight reels, making one save after another, which allowed Denmark to score from fast breaks. Down 4:0, Islem Jbeli netted Tunisia’s opening goal of the day, but the African side showed little resistance in the following minutes, and 16 minutes into this very one-sided game, the co-hosts led 11:1.

Nielsen made an impressive 13 saves in the first half for a 65% save rate, while Mathias Gidsel accounted for eight goals during the same period. However, Denmark still needed some fine tuning, as they failed to score a single goal between the 21st and the 27th minute. But the Europeans regained their fire power late in the second half, so their 10-goal advantage at the break hardly left any questions about the outcome.

After the restart, Denmark needed four minutes to score for the first time, and overall, the game became more balanced. Tunisia clearly improved in the second half, while the reigning champions looked less focused, and Nielsen failed to make any further impact before being replaced by Kevin Moller.

However, the co-hosts had the game entirely under their control, as they were up 29:18 with 10 minutes to play and kept an 11-goal advantage at the final buzzer. Gidsel, who was voted the hummel Player of the Match, ended the game with nine goals and eight assists, while Anouar Ben Abdallah netted five times for Tunisia. 

Denmark and Italy lead Group B with four points, and on Saturday, the two European teams will face each other to see which side will take the maximum number of points into the main round, after having already secured their tickets for the next phase. On the same day, Tunisia and Algeria, who have both zero points, are set to meet in a crucial match, and the winner will finish third in the group and also go through to the next phase of the competition, with the fourth-placed side heading to the President's Cup. 

hummel Player of the Match: Mathias Gidsel (Denmark)