France cut it close again as Hungary blaze a trail to the final

After leaving it very late to secure their place in the semi-finals, France were up to their old tricks again in an evenly fought contest against Spain.

France jumped into an early 3:0 lead after a nervy opening period of play and managed to hold a slender lead going into the dressing rooms at 12:10

Spain found their rhythm in the second half and even had a 17:15 lead going into the final 15 minutes, but the goalkeeping of France’s player of the match Julien Meyer helped his side come back and snatch a 24:23 win and a place in the final, which naturally delighted coach Eric Quintin:

“I am not sure if we played the best we can, but thanks to our goalkeeper, victory was possible. I am happy that we have our first final, my players totally deserved it.”

The second semi-final was a more straight forward affair, with the Hungarians leading from start to finish.

Denmark kept the game interesting, but simply could not get close enough and Hungary ran away with a convincing 32:26 victory.

“We knew that is was going to be the most difficult match for us. We wanted to get to the final very much. We had some bad periods, but due to the fact that spirit in our team is really good, we managed to win,” explained Hungary goalkeeper and player of the match Imre Pasztor.

Elsewhere in the competition, Switzerland and Sweden will contest 5/6 place on Saturday after overcoming Poland and Germany respectively, while Iceland (defeated Belarus) and Croatia (over Russia) booked their places at next year’s Youth World Championship (top 10 sides qualify) and will play for 9/10 place.

Live steaming and tournament information

The Men’s 18 EHF EURO takes place in the Polish cities of Gdynia and Gdansk from 14 to 24 August 2014. All matches will be streamed live on the official website. Further information can be found on the site and the event's Facebook page.

During the tournament eurohandball.com and the EHF EURO Facebook page will also feature regular reports, features and photo galleries.

Austria hosted the Men’s 18 EHF EURO 2012. Back then Germany won, Sweden came second and Denmark placed third.