With just three matchdays left, Poland 2018 is rapidly approaching its 92nd and last game – the final on Sunday (19 August) at 6pm, and four teams all with hopes of being there play at the Politechnika Hall on the final day of Poland 2018 at the 1,000-capacity hall.

Two mouth-watering last eight matches await, hoping for a memorable send off as Netherlands play Sweden at 18:30 and Denmark take on Russia at 20:45.

Ahead of those games Austria play Tunisia in the 15/16 placement and Romania take on France in the 9/10 position match.

All games will be streamed live HERE, IHF referee and officials nominations HERE.

Thursday 16 August – Politechnika Hall

All times local

Quarter-Finals

Netherlands vs Sweden 1830 hrs

Ahead of Poland 2018 Sweden coach Niklas Harris stated that “...our main goal is to advance from the group stage and make it to the eighth-finals. From there we want to fight for the victory in each game.”

And fought they have – all the way to the last eight where they will face a familiar Netherlands side who they easily beat by 11 goals back in Slovakia last year at the Women’s 17 EHF EURO in Michalovce. 

In that match, Cornelia Dahlstrom scored 10 goals and was named best player but her time and effectiveness in Kielce has been less important as she has scored just 11 times, leaving the main scoring duties to Isabelle Andersson (34 goals) who has been a real threat.

Both teams finished in lower positions than they wanted to in the preliminary round group stage (Sweden were fourth in group B and Netherlands were third in C), but both came from being seven goals down in their respective eighth-finals to win. Sweden were 14:7 behind in the 25th minute against Romania before winning 22:20, while Netherlands’ were 10:3 down after 15 minutes against France before they eventually won 24:23.

With 43 goals, Nikita Van Der Vliet is the tournament’s fifth top scorer and her coach, Ricardo Clarijs’ is happy to be in charge of a team clearly going places. “I am really proud of the girls, most of them did better than they did before in this tournament (against France), they are growing and that’s why we are here, and I am really, really happy we are not going home."

Denmark vs Russia 2045 hrs

“Denmark is an interesting match ahead of us,” said Russia’s assistant coach Tatiana Berezniak ahead of this late quarter-final – a repeat of the 2016 final – before adding; “Denmark and Russia will fight so I invite all handball fans to watch this game.” Fans, and other teams at Poland 2018 – not least those awaiting the winner of this in the semi-final will be packed inside the Politechnika Hall for its final game of Poland 2018.

The match is a repeat of the final from the 2016 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, held in Bratislava, which Russia won 30:22, and ensured they came to Poland 2018 as title holders.

Russia have looked able to withstand all types of defensive and offensive play, but even though Tunisia were easily beaten in their eighth-finals, their sluggishness to adapt to the style could be the chink in the armour the Danes are looking for. Russia have won all six of their games, while Denmark have lost one, against Hungary. Russia have the highest success rate from nine metres, while their three goalkeepers all appear in the top 18, with their top two in the first six (Anna Vereshchak on 50% and Nadezda Kolesnikova on 42%).

Placement Round 9-16

15/16 Placement Match: Austria vs Tunisia 14:00 hrs

Both teams will have made their own history today no matter what the result as Austria are in their first-ever youth world championship and Tunisia made it to the eighth-finals for the very first time. Despite both teams going out of contention for the title with their eighth-finals losses, the lure of 15th place should make this an interesting battle.

Austria coach Helfried Muller said after their 36:22 loss against Hungary that “the result of this tournament is already a success for us – we have made big progress and learned a lot.”

9/10 Placement Match: Romania vs France 16:15 hrs

Romania beat France 26:23 back last August in Slovakia at the Women’s 17 EHF EURO with goalkeeper Diana Cristina Cuica being awarded the best player of the match for her side, and it could be the difference in defence today which decides the too close to call encounter.

In recent history, this ranking match is a success for Romania, after a 14th-place spot in 2016 at the last women’s youth world championship, but overall, it is disappointing after three top three finishes previously. It is nearly the same kind of story for France too who have only finished outside the top eight once, in 2014.