2016 Olympic Games bronze medallists and EHF EURO 2016 champions Germany were eliminated at the hands of Qatar, who claim the second ticket to the 25th IHF Men’s World Championship Quarter-finals decided in Paris. The Asian champions will, therefore, meet Slovenia in the next stage, after the European side beat Russia in their eighth-final meeting on Saturday night.

Eighth-final: Germany vs Qatar 20:21 (10:9)

Qatar began with a 5-1 defensive system with Rafeal Capote pushing high in an attempt to disrupt Germany’s back court, but the ‘Bad Boys’ still netted the first goal of the match inside the opening minute with a rocket from Kai Hafner. At the other end of the court Andreas Wolff stopped Qatar’s first attack and went on to make three saves at 50 per cent within the first eight minutes, hinting that a difficult task lay ahead for Qatar’s shooters.

When Wolff made his fifth save just before the 10-minute mark the European champions led 5:2, and the goalkeeper was proving his value with a 71 per cent rate. At that point, Qatar keeper Danijel Saric had saved only one, and it was very clear who was winning the contest between the posts early in the match.

Germany’s hold on the game began to lessen after the first 10 minutes, while Saric’s save rate picked up. Midway through the half when coach Dagur Sigurdsson called his first time-out it was a one-goal game at 6:5 for Germany, and five minutes later Qatar levelled the score at 7:7 off a goal from Roine Bertrand.

It stayed a low-scoring match with only one goal in five minutes, and when Wolff made his second penalty save his team held only a narrow lead at 8:7. One noticeable absence from the score board in the first half was Uwe Gensheimer, who took just one shot, in the 27th minute, which was saved by Saric.

Germany just held the edge at half-time, and opened the second period with Wolff’s third penalty save out of Qatar’s four attempts from seven metres. The 2016 Olympic bronze medallists could not shake their opponents as the clock ticked on, however, and missed some easy chances due to Saric’s saves.

Wolff also made things difficult for Qatar, maintaining an incredible 60 per cent after 40 minutes when Paul Drux broke through to open a two-goal gap at 13:11. Germany pulled ahead by three thanks to Kai Hafner in the 43rd, but Qatar slowly reduced the gap. When Patrick Wiencek received his third two-minute suspension and with it a red card, the Asian team used the numerical deficit to come within one at 16:17 as the clock showed 50 minutes.

Germany reclaimed a two-goal advantage with six minutes remaining, but Qatar came back again – and this time they did not let go. When the final three minutes began the game was level at 20:20, before Capote took Qatar in front to 21:20, where the score stayed at the final whistle.

Best Player of the Match presented by adidas: Rafael CAPOTE (QAT)

Photos: Julien Crosnier