The Danish ‘beast’ threatens the Hispanic throne
The Spanish team is looking for the pass to its fourth consecutive European final against the favorite Denmark
MADRID, 27 One. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Starting this Friday (6:00 p.m./Teledeporte), the Spanish men’s handball team will face the final assault on the defense of their title in the European Championship that is being played in Hungary and Slovakia, a challenge that begins against the great favorite Denmark, a rival that has taken the measure in recent years and that closed the way to the last two finals.
Surely, the Danish team, current world champion and Olympic runner-up, is the opponent that the ‘Hispanics’ have had the worst of in recent times, despite the fact that it is in some of their best memories, such as the second world title, wrought in 2013 with an exhibition (35-19).
That result and the victory two years later in the quarterfinals of the World Championship with the remembered goal by Joan Cañellas (25-24) are almost islands in what has been the Nordic domain, which since that defeat has not lost again. against the Spaniards, whom curiously they won in the Europeans of 2016 (23-26) and 2018 (22-25), but where, on the other hand, they could not get on the podium.
More painful for the Spanish team have been their last two wins over Jordi Ribera’s men, both last year and both to close the passage to a final. In the World Cup in Egypt, Denmark won by an electric 33-34 and with much more clarity in the Tokyo Games by 23-27, a score that showed the complications that its powerful 6-0 usually creates, protected once again by a high level goal.
At the moment, the team led by Nikolaj Jacobsen has shown to be in excellent shape, with the addition that it has been able to dodge the coronavirus, with only one registered case. He ‘walked’ in the first phase against Montenegro, Slovenia and North Macedonia, and in the Main Round he did not have much more trouble against Croatia, Iceland and the Netherlands before conceding his only defeat against France (29-30).
However, the continental champions of 2008 and 2012 had nothing at stake against the French and seemed to be thinking more about the semi-finals. In fact, he allowed himself the luxury of reserving, surely, his two best players, Mikkel Hansen and Mathias Gidsel, a left-handed and right-handed winger who make up a first line on which the Spanish defense and goalkeepers must be very vigilant and active.
But Denmark has more resources and one of them is its defensive strength, which will force Jordi Ribera to make the most of the tactical richness he has on his board and which will require patience, especially from Agustín Casado and Ian Tarrafeta who, at the moment, are scoring at a good level in his first major championship as ‘Hispanos’. The objective will be to avoid losses that cause Denmark to launch their fast counterattack and that Landin or Moeller grow under the sticks.
For now, despite the defeat against Norway and some doubts against Russia and Poland, the current double European champion has once again shown her competitive character to once again be with the best in the fight for medals. The two days without a game will also have served to recharge batteries and get Joan Cañellas and Ian Tarrafeta ready again, who had to stop due to the coronavirus, and to hasten the options over Antonio García in search of a historic fourth consecutive final, something unprecedented in the history of Europeans.
DATASHEET.
–EQUIPMENT.
DINAMARCA: Landin (P), Moeller (P), Green (P), Andersson, Antonsen, M.Hansen, Gidsel, Lauge Schmidt, Hald Jensen, J.Hansen, Holm, Jakobsen, Saugstrup, Kirkeloekke, Lindberg, Mensah Larsen, Mensing, Moellgard, Svan y Toft Hansen.
SPAIN: Pérez de Vargas (P), Corrales (P), Hernández (P); Gurbindo, Peciña, Maqueda, Fernández, Solé, Figueras, Cañellas, Casado, Sarmiento, García, Gómez, Ariño, Guardiola, Tarrafeta, Sánchez-Migallón, Márquez, Sarmiento and Odriozola.
–PABELLÓN: Budapest Arena.
–TIME: 6:00 p.m./Telesport.