The penultimate day of the 2018 IHF Women’s Junior World Championship starts with two games at the Fonix Hall featuring four teams having to get over their disappointment of losing the opportunity to play for medals.

The first round of 5-8 matches tomorrow (Friday 13 July) will decide the teams who will play for 5/6 place and 7/8 place on Saturday 14 July.

All matches will be streamed live and free.

No overtime will be played in the Placement Round 5-8 matches. In case of a draw at the end of the regular playing time, direct 7m penalty throws shall be used in accordance with the IHF regulations.

Placement Round 5-8 - Day One

Friday 13 July
Fonix Hall, Debrecen, Hungary
All times local

Netherlands vs France - 12:30 hrs
The U19 European champions France shed tears on court as they let slip a lead against Norway in their quarter-final yesterday, before losing in the second period of additional time - 27:26 (24:24) (11:13), while the Netherlands lost against the Russian generation which won the 2016 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, 28:26 (14:14).

The Dutch side had clocked in some impressive performances in their previous games but had trouble against the Russians in the last quarter with the France one of the pre-tournament favourites to win the junior world title.

But Norway had other ideas as they clawed back a five-goal deficit to draw level in the last seconds of regulation time. As the game went to additional time, the French calmness shown throughout the tournament, built on a strong defence, started to crack. And it broke down cruelly, as the only goal in the second period of five minutes was scored by Norway, who dumped the French out.
 
In terms of statistics, Netherlands lie bottom of the fair play table but top the Hungary 2018 scoring charts both in terms of goals scored (227) and the average across their seven games (32.43) as well as being the deadliest from seven metres (92.6% success rate with 25 goals from 27) as well as the highest number of goals and attempts from six metres (83 goals/11.86 per game, 116 attempts, 16.57 per game). 

Added to this, they are also the top side with fast-break goals (five per game) and the most attempts (5.86 per game). It is no surprise then that the Dutch top-scorer – Dione Housheer with 47 goals – lies second in the Hungary 2018 list, 19 behind Angola’s Helena Paulo, with two games left to play.

France are the fourth-best defensive side having conceded just 149 goals in their seven games (21.29 per game) with goalkeeper Camille Depuiset also in fourth, in the top saves list, saving 43% of shots faced (49 out of 113).  But her French side lies in 22nd place in terms of attempts from the wing, with just 40 attempts in their seven matches.

Romania vs Denmark – 15:00 hrs
Neighbours of the Hungary 2018 hosts, Romania also let slip a lead in their quarter-final, losing a 17:14 half-time advantage to the Hungarians and their passionate home crowd, as they eventually lost by five (31:26) having scored just nine second half goals.

Denmark were overrun by Korea in their quarter-finals as the Danes managed just seven first half goals in a great defensive display by the Asian side who won 24:16 (11:7) against the 2016 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship runners-up – where this same generation of players met in the eighth-finals in Bratislava as Denmark took a 30:29 (11:14) win.

The paucity of the Danish attack in their quarter-final saw just three goals in the first 15 minutes - and then just five strikes in 23 second half minutes as they failed from distance, usually a strong part of any Danish attack.

Danish Coach Heine Mogensen lost start Nikoline Lundgreen in the eighth-finals and did not call up a replacement against Korea, preferring to start with 15 players.

In their seven games each so far both teams have scored 203 goals each (29 per match) with the Danes boasting the top strike rate of wing shots (41 from 59 attempts, 69.5%).

Romania have the second highest number of seven metres in their favour with 43 in total, meaning, on average, they receive 6.14 per match while Sorina-Maria Tirca is fifth in the top scorers list with 37 goals.

Danish goalkeeper Amalie Milling is fifth overall in the best goalkeeper list with an average of 10.29 saves per match, having stopped 72 out of 172 attempts on her goal (42%).

The two teams meet for the second time at Hungary 2018, after their Preliminary Group C match which saw the Danes breeze past their opponents, 42:23 (20:8), with Lundgreen top-scoring in the match with eight.