Spain takes a bronze in the Handball World Cup that tastes like glory

The Spanish handball team rarely misses a medal. As soon as you have one within your reach, to the casserole. This time he found himself facing Sweden and 22,000 Swedes in a soccer stadium in Stockholm converted into a World Cup pavilion. At the beginning of the second half, they paled before the endless shooting of the hosts (23-19). In the previous one they had confessed that their legs were heavy. But what else? It is already known that it is the team of a thousand escapes. And again he succeeded. A perfect second half lifted him to bronze in the World Cup (36-39).

On the final day, it was the work, above all, of Adrià Figueras, Rodrigo Corrales and, of course, Álex Dujshebaev. The first had not added a stop in the quarterfinals or semifinals: zero of three against Norway and did not even go out against Denmark. However, he appeared after the break against a Sweden rampant in attack and hit the switch with four almost consecutive interventions that changed the course of the afternoon. The second, an eel to move in the six meters, was crowned with a performance to remember: nine goals without a miss wriggling on the six-meter line. The king of the evening And the third is no longer Talant’s son, but Álex. The absolute head of the team did his thing again with a display of leadership and command. Seven goals -two of them from the hip, as he saw his father do-, a single missed shot and five assists. Three stilettos from a set maneuvered by the silent figure of Jordi Ribera, the man who prefers the shadow, the computer mouse who scored his sixth medal, one more since the myth of Juan de Dios Román.

It was the fifth metal followed by Spain in a major tournament, after the European gold of 2020, the world and Olympic bronze of 21, and the continental silver of 22. The best streak in the great explosion unleashed in 1996. Since that European bronze, Spain has left with a medal around its neck half the time. This is the 18th in 35 possible tournaments in this period. Until that moment, his best results had been four fifth places between Games, Europeans and World Cups, unable to overcome that bloody border of the quarterfinals. He scaled that wall and very few have been able to lasso him. In the middle of this golden age, 15 years ago, the League sank with the real estate crack, the home tournament continues in its smallest cloths, but every January, in each championship, there has rarely been a lack of good news from those now called Hispanics. With them there is no cost in January.

The clash was the apotheosis of modern handball. Goals everywhere, a relentless shooting. Sweden hit first because their goal was heavier with Tobias Thulin and the Spanish defense had not yet tightened the screws to contain the Scandinavian speed. The counterattack of four against two with which the hosts captured their maximum advantage in the 26th minute (19-15) made clear the Spanish escape route. The goal was from Hampus Wanne, torture at that point. Six goals in eight shots until the intermission was signed by the Catalan. His left wing was a toll-free road and Niklas Ekberg appeared on the right, the great Spanish nightmare of recent times (he converted the penalties that left the team without the 2016 Games and without last year’s European gold). Darj (four goals without a miss) and Lagergren also appeared at the local party.

Spain, who had again reserved Álex Dujshebaev as a starter (he did not appear until minute 17) and gave flight to a outsider Like Garciandia, he suffered behind, but he also found his solutions above. First with a lucid Cañellas with three strikes from long distance, also with a Casado who had been missing in recent games, and then with the usual finesse of Ángel Fernández. The meeting was pure frenzy.

Ribera’s recipe was Corrales in view of the fact that Pérez de Vargas had barely been able to stop four shots out of the 26 received. And it had immediate effects. The goal was lit, the defense adjusted all its settings with a 5:1 arrangement and the afternoon took a radical turn at the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm. From 23-19 it went in a snap to 23-25. And there was no brake for the selection.

[Noticia de última hora. Habrá actualización en breve]

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