Has Denmark already digested the semi-final defeat?
Neither the Danish European Championship favourite nor the French national handball team are represented in the final of the European Handball Championship 2022. Both nations had to bow out early in the semi-finals and will now meet in the match for third place. Bronze is only secondary for both teams, accordingly we consider a high-scoring match on Sunday as obvious.
Already in the preliminary round, the two handball nations played a competitive match in which they even broke the 59-goal mark. If Denmark vs. France score at least 59 goals this time, odds of up to 1.87 (@Unibet) are currently being paid out for a bet on more than 58.5 goals.
It’s quite possible that both national coaches will start the rotation machine in the match for third place and save some key players. Denmark had already spared key players in the last European Championship duel against France, the last match in the group phase, for the subsequent semi-final against Spain.
Therefore, the result of the last match between the two teams should not be overrated. Especially since Denmark won three of the last four international matches against the French national team before.
Denmark – Statistics & current form
As reigning world champions, the Danish national handball team went into the 2022 European Championship in Hungary with a broad chest. Although Denmark played a very strong group phase, they suffered a surprising defeat against Spain in the semi-finals. This means that the big tournament favourites have reached the final of a European Championship for the fourth time in a row.
The last time the Danish national handball team reached the final was in 2014 at their home European Championship. However, the Red and Whites were defeated by France in the final and thus missed out on defending their title. Only a year earlier, Denmark had bagged the second European Championship title in the association’s history.
Since then, Denmark has been on the fast track. In 2019 and 2021, the team of national coach Nikolaj Jacobsen became world champions twice, thus setting a new milestone in the history of the Danish national handball team. After all, only three other nations have successfully defended a World Cup title in World Cup history.
Allaying frustration against France?
The two-time World Champions will now conclude their European Championship adventure on Saturday. The bronze medal match is only secondary, especially since the primary goal was to win the title. The most recent result against the Spanish defending champions was a bitter setback.
At half-time, Denmark was still leading 14:13, but in the course of the second half, the Danish national team went down and lost the momentum. Abello was a decisive factor on the Spanish side, scoring eleven goals against the reigning world champions from Denmark.
On the Danish side, Mikkel Hansen was the top scorer with eight goals. The 34-year-old, who is under contract with PSG at club level, is also the second-highest scorer at Euro 2022, with only Magnusson of Iceland having scored more goals than Hansen so far. If the star player is once again the success factor for the reigning world champions in the match for third place, odds of 1.40 for tip 1 in Denmark v. France await.
The Denmark squad:
Goal: N. Landin, Green, Möller
Back: Lauge, Mensah Larsen, Möllgaard, M. Hansen, Andersson, Mensing, Holm, Kirkelökke, Gidsel
Left wing: M. Landin, E. Jakobsen
Right wing: Svan, Lindberg
Circle: Antonsen, Saugstrup, Toft Hansen, Hald
Coach: N. Jakobsen
Last matches of Denmark:
European Championships Final Stage
01/28 2022 – Spain 29 – 25 Denmark
European Championships Main Round Grp. 1
01/26 2022 – Denmark 29 – 30 France
01/24 2022 – Denmark 35 – 23 Netherlands
01/22 2022 – Denmark 27 – 25 Croatia
01/20 2022 – Denmark 28 – 24 Iceland
France – Statistics & current form
Just like the Danish national team, France will also miss out on the big European Championship coup this year. The three-time European champions started this year’s European Championship tournament in Hungary with a weak squad. After all, several top-class players were missing from the French ranks, including star player Karabatic, who had to cancel his participation in the European Championship 2022 due to injury.
Nevertheless, France did not play a bad tournament and deservedly fought their way into the semi-finals. Surprisingly, France suffered a heavy defeat against Sweden, with the French national handball team even leading by four goals in the first half.
In the final phase, France turned up the heat, but ultimately lacked the necessary luck to score the equaliser. Sweden benefited from a strong performance by their own keeper. Andreas Palicka had a sensational half-time catch rate of 33 per cent in the first half for the Swedish national team.
Will France beat the reigning world champions again?
In the bronze medal match, it now remains to be seen who the recovered national coach Guillaume Gille – who was previously in quarantine – will go for. It is quite possible that Gille will spare some of his top performers in the course of the match, especially as the match for third place is of secondary importance for the French.
Even without star player Karabatic, France will still have the best offensive performance at the 2022 European Championship. In eight European Championship matches, the French national handball team has already scored 246 goals on a total of 383 shot attempts – a rate of 64.2%.
If this continues, the next offensive spectacle against the world champions from Denmark is quite obvious. If you want to bet on the French national handball team in Denmark vs. France, you can get odds of up to 4.25 in case of success.
The France squad:
Goal: Gerard, Pardin, Desbonnet
Backs: Minne, Lagarde, Karabatic, Mahe, Konan, Briet, Richardson, Mem
Left wing: Descat, Nahi
Right wing: Lenne, Porte, Kounkoud
Circle: Tournat, Fabregas, Monar
Coach: Gille
Last matches played by France:
European Championships Final Stage
01/28 2022 – France 33 – 34 Sweden
European Championships Main Round Grp. 1
01/26 2022 – Denmark 29 – 30 France
01/24 2022 – Montenegro 27 – 36 France
01/22 2022 – France 21 – 29 Iceland
01/20 2022 – France 34 – 24 Netherlands
Denmark – France Direct comparison / H2H-balance
France lead the direct comparison against the Danish national handball team. In the last five international matches, however, the reigning world champions from Denmark have had the upper hand. After all, the Red and Whites have beaten France three times in this period. On the other hand, the Danish national team lost twice.
One of the two defeats came in the last match of the current European Championship 2022. In the last – comparatively insignificant – group match for the Danish national team, France beat the world champions 30:29 after a spectacular offensive performance. Dika Mem was one of the top scorers in the French ranks with eight goals.
Denmark – France Tip
Neither for the French nor for the Danish national handball team does the match on Sunday have a special significance. We therefore think that an offensive match in the match for third place is likely. Already in the last European Championship duel between the two nations, the mark of 59 goals was broken.
It is quite possible that at least 59 goals will be scored between Denmark and France this time as well. The French’s offensive form is one of the reasons for this. In the current European Championship 2022, the French national handball team is the strongest offensive team in the current tournament, even in the absence of star players like Karabatic & Co.
On average, France scored more than 30 goals per game. Denmark, on the other hand, is at 29.88 goals per European Championship game. With a stake of six units, we therefore dare to bet on Denmark vs. France at odds of 1.87 on over 58.5 goals per match. Bets on this have paid off in three of the last five international matches between the two nations.
