One more win until the semi-finals

The main round is drawing to a close, but the European Handball Championship 2024 continues at full throttle. Whether with or without the German selection will become clear on Wednesday. The chances of reaching the semi-finals are very good. Alfred Gislason’s team have everything in their own hands. In our Germany vs. Croatia betting tip, we’ll see whether the DHB men seize this opportunity and move into the medal round with a win

France is already the winner of this main round Group I. The only question is who will accompany the Equipe Tricolore in the semi-finals. Germany have the best prospects. They currently have 5:3 points. A win against the Croatians will certainly be enough to see them meet world champions Denmark in the final round. But perhaps the German game this evening is already meaningless.

The first match of the day will be the game between Austria and Iceland. The Icelanders have to win to secure a ticket for the Olympic qualifying tournaments. Red-White-Red could temporarily overtake the Germans with a win. But if the Icelanders win, the German team will have one less competitor for a place in the semi-finals

Hungary will then face France. The Hungarians have to win to get past the German team. Should that not be the case, the German team could be confirmed as semi-finalists even before their own throw-off. However, we will leave all eventualities aside. If they win their own match, and Germany and Croatia are clearly predicted to win at home, then it doesn’t matter what their opponents conjure up beforehand

Germany – statistics & current form

The German handball team does not have the qualities of the Danes or the French, so you can’t expect Alfred Gislason’s team to rush through the European Championship and play everything into the ground. There have been setbacks, but the DHB men have shown that they can deal with them and then improve again

The results make us optimistic

If you look at the results at this European Championship in general, there’s not much to complain about. Including preparations, Germany have only lost one of their last eleven international matches, and that was against Olympic champions France. At the European Championship, they drew against Austria, a team that has been unleashed at this tournament. In hindsight, they had to be satisfied with this point, which kept the German selection in the race

On Monday, a round of 16 was virtually on the agenda, thanks to the help of the French, who prevailed against Austria. Alfred Gislason’s team still had some problems against Hungary in the first period, but almost played themselves into a frenzy in the second. There was finally more variety in attack. That had been a bit of a shortcoming in previous games. Too much depended on Juri Knorr. In the 35:28 win against Hungary, it became clear that the Germans have even more tools in their toolbox, making this team much harder to predict.

Against the Hungarians, it was Julian Köster who outshone all his teammates. Eight goals, numerous good passes, several blocks and great defensive work overall made him Man of the Match. Now it’s on to the last main round match, the quarter-final, as Alfred Gislason calls it. If the DHB men can even begin to build on their performance from the Hungary game, then the odds on a German success between Germany and Croatia are without alternative.

Predicted line-up for Germany:

• Goal: Späth, Wolff
• Back line: Lichtlein, Knorr, Weber, Heymann, Köster, Hanne, Uscins, Häfner, Steinert
• Left wing: Dahmke, Mertens
• Right wing: Kastening
• Circle: Fischer, Golla, Kohlbacher
• Coach: Gislason

Croatia – Statistics & current form

The Croatians are in a state of upheaval. Just like Germany and Hungary, there are many young players in the Croatian squad. The only difference is that these teams reached the U21 World Cup final last year. The young Croatian players have not yet reached this high level. Most of the burden still rests on the shoulders of the veterans around Domagoj Duvnjak and Igor Karacic

Dazzled by the Spain game

Perhaps that’s why Croatia weren’t expecting a big upset. However, Goran Perkovac’s team traveled to the European Championship with greater ambitions. After all, they had four wins in the run-up to the tournament. Then came this opening game at the European Championship, when they swept the Spaniards off the board with 39:29. Perhaps they were a little dazzled by this game of the century

The Croatians have only won one of their last five games. They have recently suffered three defeats in a row, showing that their batteries are empty and that they will probably be glad when this tournament is over on Wednesday. With currently 1:7 points, not even participation in the match for fifth place is possible. Probably nobody in Croatia will mourn this match.

On Monday, they still had a theoretical chance of reaching the semifinals. They should have won against Iceland. At the break, the Croatians were still two goals ahead. In the second period, however, Goran Perkovac’s team were unable to counter the speed of the Icelandic side and lost by a clear 30:35. The air seems to have finally gone out of them and we therefore assume that the prediction between Germany and Croatia will also be a Croatian defeat.

Predicted line-up of Croatia:

• Goal: Mandic, Ivic, Pilipovic
• Back line: Duvnjak, Karacic, Cindric, Lucin, Mamic, Srna, Maras, Martinovic, Klarica
• Left wing: Mihic, Jelinic
• Right wing: Sostaric, Glavas
• Circle: Kusan, Nacinovic, Sipic
• Coach: Perkovac

Germany – Croatia head-to-head / H2H result

There are not many teams that Germany have a negative record against in handball. The Croatians are not one of them. However, the direct comparison is almost even. In total, these two national teams have faced each other in 30 matches. In terms of victories, the German team has a 14:12 lead. Four other encounters ended in a draw.

However, the Germans have only gained the advantage in the direct comparison in the last few international matches. Four of the last five matches have gone to Germany. However, Hrvatska won the last encounter. In the main round of the 2020 European Championship, the Croatians narrowly won 25:24 in Vienna after the German men were still 14:11 ahead at the break.

Germany – Croatia betting tip

Possibly the German handball team will receive support from Iceland and France before their own throw-off. But even if this is not the case, Germany must not let the semi-finals slip from their grasp. The German team is euphoric after its victory over Hungary and will do everything in its power to reach the medal round.

The Croatians, on the other hand, have already been eliminated. They have lost three of their last three games. It is clear that Hrvatska have nothing more to add at the moment. It is therefore clear that the odds at our tested betting provider Betano clearly favor the DHB men. We also think that you can only be successful with a bet between Germany and Croatia that is related to a German victory

We expect a lot of goals to be scored again. The Croatian defense no longer has the energy to stand in the way of the German team’s attacks for 60 minutes. That’s why we think that the DHB men will continue to pull away as the game progresses. In the end, we decided to play the odds on a German handicap win (-3.5 goals) between Germany and Croatia