Placement matches 9 to 12 in Strumica
Croatia – Argentina 34:29 (19:13)
Croatia is back on the road of success. After they lost their eighth-final against Romania they won the first two placement matches for the places 9 to 16 – first against Hungary and today against Argentina with 34:29. With a 6:2 run (from 7:6 to 13:8) between the 13th and the 21st minute, the Europeans overran the girls from Pan-America and pre-decided this match. Argentina did not recover from this period, Croatia was the well-earned winner and will play against Sweden for place nine on Saturday, while Argentina face Portugal for match for place 11.

Placement matches 9 to 12 in Strumica
Portugal – Sweden 23:24 (11:16)
In the last placement match for the places 9 to 12 Portugal lost against Sweden with 23:24. The Scandinavians took their chance to leave this Women´s Youth (U18) World Championship with a sense of success by winning the last three matches in a row, though they require a victory against Croatia on Saturday in the final placement match for place 9. Portugal, who will play against Argentina for the 11th place, lost this match, because they were not concentrated enough during the fist half. Sweden was able to build up a five-goal lead at break (16:11) and extended it up to seven (21:14) after 38 minutes. Only then the Portugese team started a recovery. Goal by goal they reduced the gap, but finally it was too late. Portugal came close, but not close enough. After 60 minutes of exciting handball Sweden was the deserved winner of this match.