Croatia-Germany 28:23 (13:11)

Croatia recovered from their semi-final loss against Poland on Thursday with a 28:23 win over Germany today in the penultimate game of Qatar 2015 at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah arena in al-Sadd.

With the win, the Croatian team has also booked a ticket to the Rio 2016 Olympic qualification tournaments in April next year.

The first half had barely begun before an issue with the stickers on court stopped play but following the brief interruption, Germany came out strongest and managed to create a two-goal lead thanks to some good saves from their 30-year-old goalkeeper Silvio Heinevetter.

A team time-out by Croatia’s coach Slavko Goluza in the 11th minute changed the game for Croatia who did not only even out the score but also took their first lead in the match when Marko Kopljar scored to make it 7:6 in the 17th minute.

Croatia slowly increased their lead but were not able to take full control of the match. A few Croatian shots struck the post and strong play from the German wing players kept Germany in the game. Nevertheless Croatia ended the first half leading 13:11.

Croatia started off the second half one man down because of a two-minute suspension to Igor Vori 30 seconds before half-time but this did not stop their momentum. After 46 minutes of play, Germany were down by five goals as Domagoj Duvnjak scored to make it 21:16.

The German players were not able to find their usual game level so the comeback from them did not happen. Instead a strong Mirko Alilovic in the nets allowed Croatia to take home a safe win.

With 12 saves in the match the Croatian ‘keeper was also crowned the adidas ‘Best Player of the Match’.

Croatia will now face the winner of Denmark vs. Slovenia in a match for the 5th/6th place on Saturday at Lusail Multipurpose Hall.

Centre back Michael Kraus (GER) was disappointed with the ease of which they lost. “In the first minutes we played very well, we were aggressive in the defence and even in front by three goals. But then we didn’t stay concentrated and made many mistakes which allowed Croatia to score easy goals.

“Both teams were quite exhausted which is normal at this stage of the tournament, we have to analyse the defeat and lick our wounds and then we have to win the last game tomorrow, no matter how.

“It will be our final.”

Denmark-Slovenia 36:33 (19:15)

The powerful Danish squad beat a stubborn Slovenia to set up a fifth-place play-off against Croatia tomorrow at the Lusail Multipurpose Hall while Slovenia will face off with Germany to finish in the all-important seventh sport and qualification for the Olympic qualification tournaments.

In the last game of Qatar 2015 at the Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah arena in Al-Sadd, Slovenian right-wing Dragan Gajic showed why he is the strongest candidate to win the title of the top scorer at Qatar 2015, providing his team with goals very early in the match.

The Slovenians, who finished fourth in the 2013 World Championship in Spain were two goals up after 14 minutes (8:6), before right-wing Lasse Svan Hansen kickstarted a strong period for the Danes.

SG Flensburg's left-hander hit 100% of his shots up until the half-time break (8/8) as Svan Hansen was leading the fast-breaks for the Danish squad. The runners-up from the last two major competitions (EHF EURO 2014 and WCh 2013), pulled off an impressive 7:0 run in only five minutes to make it 13:8 in the 20th minute and the teams swapped scores until the half (19:5).

Slovenian coach Boris Denic was faced with a possible problem in defence after defensive specialist Matej Gaber was shown a direct red card in the 32nd minute which was also combined in the match with a red for Miha Zvizej.

However, the biggest problem was how to stop Lasse Svan Hansen instead of the biggest star of the team – Mikkel Hansen.

Denmark were up by seven in the 40th minute (27:20), but the Slovenians, similar to the quarter-final clash against France, didn't give up until the last second of the match.

Gajic, Cehte, Zvizej and their teammates put the pressure on Denmark by eating into their lead in 51st minute (29:26).

Danish coach Gudmundur Gudmundsson called a time-out to attempt to bring a lackluster period to an end, and it was enough for the win, as the Balkan boys could not come closer than three goals to the Danish outfit.

The amazing right wings of both teams were the top scorers with adidas 'Best Player of the Match' Lasse Svan Hansen scoring 13 for Denmark and Dragan Gajic finishing up with 12 Slovenian goals.

The 13 goals were a career high for Lasse Svan Hansen. “I never had a record like that, either with a club, or with the national team," he said. "It makes me happy, because it has been an important factor to win tonight and play tomorrow for fifth place.

"I scored 14 goals in the previous seven matches and I bagged 13 tonight. It is really a big deal.”

Those 13 strikes came from 13 shots - a perfect record. “It is amazing. I didn’t realise it during the game and I am impressed. I had the opportunity to score some of them in the fast break and in 6 against 5 situations which allowed us to attack mostly from the wings.”

Photos: Qatar2015