France secured a last-second win in the opening men’s semi-final at the 2016 Olympic Games, defeating European champions Germany to earn a place in their third consecutive Olympic final – and with it a chance to defend their eight-year grip on the Olympic title. 

“The dream for the triple stays alive,” said Nikola Karabatic following the game. “It was tough, now I have to recover. I’m really done, I’m so tired – I can’t believe it but it’s really nice.”

It was the third semi-final at Rio 2016 after the penultimate women’s matches were played on August 18, and it was the third decided only in the last 10 seconds of the match by one crucial goal. 

Future Arena, Friday 19 August
France vs Germany 29:28 (16:13)

The match ended with a one-goal difference but the 60 minutes were not played that way, as Germany fought back from a three-goal distance at half-time, which became a six-goal score line as late as the 45th. The European champions closed the significant gap in the final minutes, only to lose the match in the last second at the hands of 2012 World Handball Player of the Year Daniel Narcisse. 

“We knew that the most important thing was not to lose the ball, because we knew that even though we missed the shot we could still play the extra time,” said Luka Karabatic after the match. "We knew that we had to keep the ball to the end and then try something when it was one or two seconds left. That's what Daniel was right to do and he made an unbelievable shot.”

The biggest difference in the first half was Germany’s scoring accuracy, as the teams took almost the same number of shots in that period – though Germany scored only 13 out of 22 while France found the net 16 times on their 23 attempts. Goalkeeper Thierry Omeyer was key to the world and Olympic champions victory as usual, making crucial saves in the right moments to finish with a 31% save rate, while Germany’s keepers had significant trouble against the French shooters. 

Germany’s star of the EHF EURO 2016 in January, Andreas Wolff, started in goal but was replaced between the posts in the 10th minute when he had not yet been able to stop a shot. At that stage France had created a 7:4 advantage, and it took another six minutes for Germany’s second keeper Silvio Heinevetter to make a save. 

Around the 17-minute mark Heinevetter made two consecutive saves in the same attack – first against left wing Michael Guigou, then line player Luka Karabatic, before Uwe Gensheimer scored at the other end to close the difference to 7:11. After that Germany were much more confident, and when Hendrik Pekeler received his second two-minute suspension in the 20th France led by a narrower margin at 12:9. 

Germany kept the same distance as the clock ticked on, with Julius Kuhn scoring his second to put the score at 14:11 as the last five minutes of the half began. Gensheimer tallied his seventh a few minutes later, closing the deficit to two at 13:15 in the 28th, before Mathieu Grebille added one more for France to hold a crucial three-goal advantage at half-time. 

Wolff returned to Germany’s goal for the start of the second period, and he made his first save on a penalty against Guigou after Paul Drux received a suspension. Despite his effort, France increased their advantage during the time Drux was on the bench, with Daniel Narcisse adding his fifth to take the score to 20:14 in the 37th. 

Wolff stopped another Guigou penalty in the 38th, followed by an outside shot from Valentin Porte, but as Omeyer stepped up his game further the German attack was not as effective as their defence. The score stayed at 20:15 for three minutes until Nikola Karabatic and Omeyer both scored into Germany’s empty goal as coach Dagur Sigurdsson brought in an additional attacker in place of Wolff in an attempt to close the score line. 

Slowly his tactic proved successful, though Germany sacrificed some goals, as Gensheimer decreased the distance to four at 21:25 in the 47th. But Omeyer remained a considerable problem for the European champions, saving his 10th in the 49th to record a 33% rate before Germany hit back with two consecutive goals that decreased the score line to three (23:26) as the last 10 minutes began. 

With eight minutes left Kuhn scored his seventh and took the score 24:26, and Gensheimer had a chance to close the gap to one on a fast break but missed the goal completely. Kuhn did not make the same mistake however, as he scored from six just inside the last five minutes, taking Germany within one at 26:27 before Kentin Mahe added a penalty against Wolff to reclaim the two-goal advantage for France. 

With a minute and 40 seconds left Tobias Reichmann ran a successful fast break that took the difference back to one, and it was he who equalised on a counter attack just over 30 seconds later at 28:28. 

France held possession with one minute on the clock, and after a time-out they played a smart attack, running down the clock until passive play was called, meaning they would either score in the final seconds or miss and send the match into extra time – either way not allowing Germany an opportunity to respond. 

It was Narcisse who scored the winning goal off a neat setup from Guigou right before the buzzer sounded, and just as the women’s team had done the day before in their semi-final against the Netherlands, the defending Olympic and world champions celebrated a victory secured only in the dying seconds. 

“We had a fantastic comeback after the game was almost completely lost. I'm incredibly proud of my players and their spirit and how they manage to fight back. It was a great fight. We were the better team in the second half,” said Sigurdsson after the match. “We are concentrating on winning the bronze final now. We've played a great tournament.”