Danes rule the sidelines today at the Women’s World Championshpihs: Left to Right; Head Coaches Morten Soubak (Brazil), Jan Pytlick (Denmark) and Kim Rasmussen (Poland)
A few short notes on today’s semifinal matches at the Women’s World Championships.
Poland vs Serbia, 1800 CET / 1200 U.S. Eastern Time
With the elimination of pre-tournament favorites, Norway, Montenegro and France, the host Serbs are now the top favorite to win the tournament. They are a 2.5 goals favorite over the surprising Poles that were not in any way seen as title contenders. In fact, going into the tournament they were 250-1 longshots to win the title, the longest odds of the 12 European participants. I suspect that Poland’s surprising run will come to an end against the host Serbs.
Brazil vs Denmark 2045 CET/ 1445 U.S. Eastern Time
These two sides met in Group play with Brazil winning comfortably, 23-18. The oddsmakers foresee a tight contest with Brazil only a .5 goal favorite. For Denmark, the one time dominant Women’s team on the world stage, this is is a return to the medal round after a drought of 9 year drought of mediocrity. For Brazil this is the first time ever in the medal round. For years Brazil had shown they can compete with the top sides in Europe for years, but had struggled to get over the hump in the knockout stages of major tournaments. The emotion they displayed after their double overtime victory over Hungary showed just how big of a deal it was for them to make it to the semis. Now that they’ve made it, I think their talent will shine through with a repeat victory over the Danes.
Here are a few articles on today’s semis worth checking out:
Timeout Mag on Danish resurgence: Link
Timeout Mag on 3 Danish head coaches in the semis: Link
IHF Preview of Poland-Serbia: Link
IHF Preview of Brazil-Denmark: Link
As a reminder today’s semifinal matches and Sunday’s gold and silver medal matches can be watch online at the LiveSport.TV website: Link (The subscription price for the remaining matches is $12.99)