Maybe minus six at the start of the second half, and then a behind goal and the ball for the opponent six seconds before the end of the game is an impossible mission for many national teams, but not for Germany either...
Alfred Gislason's boys showed why handball and sport are special today - a movie could one day be made about what they survived and how they eventually eliminated the powerful host France from the Olympic Games after 70 minutes.
Germany is in the semi-finals, with the goal of a boy born in Latvia Renars Uščins five seconds before the end of overtime, Germany defeated France (35:34) - the European champion, the world runner-up and the national team that defended the gold from Tokyo.
At the same time, it was the moment that marked the end of the great career of one of the greatest of all time - the symbol of France and handball Nikola Karabatić played the last match for the national team.
And, for a long time it seemed that the great audience at the "Pierre Moreau" football stadium in Lille would enjoy the party of their boys, since the "experts" went 3:0 at the beginning of the second half to 20:14...
This memorable match showed that German athletes never give up, even though they had a wall in front of them made by the home goalkeeper Vincent Gerard (recorded 24 saves), they somehow managed to slowly melt away a big advantage and enter a dramatic finale.
And there they were practically knocked out when Dika Mem scored with 55 seconds left for 29:27.
In a long attack, Germany managed to reduce it to minus one after the seven-pointer by Uščins, and the scoreboard in Lille after the (incomprehensible) time-out of Gijom Žil showed that there were only six seconds left...
Mem could do whatever he wanted with the ball, he just needed to run out of time, but somehow confused by the German defense, he passed to Julian Kester, and the left back of Gumerzbah passed to Uščins, who was faster than the siren and took the match to extra time ...
And the additional ten minutes brought drama... Nedim Remili scored a nice goal with 15 seconds left to tie the game at 34:34, it looked like the match was going to another overtime, but cold-blooded Uščins didn't think so.
In a new fast attack, his left shone again, which followed Lille and led the Germans into medal fights - fully deserved.
A. Spain is waiting for them there, which also defeated Egypt in a great drama after extra time (29:28).
What a handball day at the Olympic Games, and the remaining quarter-final matches Denmark - Sweden (17.30:21.30 p.m.) and Norway - Slovenia (XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.) are still to come.
Quarterfinals
Spain - Egypt 29:28
Germany - France 35:34
Denmark - Sweden (17.30:XNUMX p.m.)
Norway - Slovenia (21.30:XNUMX p.m.)
Semi-final
Spain - Germany
Den/Swe - Nor/Slo
Bonus video:
