Handball World Cup
January 30, 2007
The 19,000-strong Cologne crowd went into a frenzy when coach Heiner Brand's team beat Spain for the first time since the Olympic quarterfinals in 2004.
Jansen, with his team-leading six goals, and goalkeeper Henning Fritz, with his spectacular saves, frustrated the Iberians on Tuesday evening, keeping Germany's dream of a first title since 1978 alive.
Also in the final four are Poland, courtesy of a 28-27 win over Russia in Hamburg.
Poland made the semis for the first time since 1982, while Russia went out in the quarterfinals for the fourth time in a row.
In the semi-finals on Thursday, Germany meet European champions France. Poland face the winner of a northern European duel between Denmark and Iceland.
Dream start
Germany had a dream start, racing off to a 2-0 lead from Torsten Jansen and Sebastian Preiss. Spain drew at 3-3 but that was the last time they matched the Germans.
The hosts were four goals up at 13-9, held a 15-12 halftime lead and escaped a nail-biting closing stage when Spain fought back to within one goal.
But the Germans survived.
Poland - Russia
Like Germany, Poland were never behind against three-time world champions Russia, whose attacking 5-1 defense was to no avail.
Poland were 3-0 up, allowed the Russians to draw on several occasions, but the Russians never managed to get ahead, especially in the final minutes at 27-27 when Poland's strong defense and especially goalkeeper Slawomir Szmal frustrated their hopes.
Karol Bielecki scored the winning goal with 1:30 minutes left, his seventh of the game before Russia's last desperate attempt from Alexey Rastvortsev was blocked.
Earlier, Hungary defeated Slovenia 34-33 in the match for ninth place although they wasted a 25-22 lead midway through the second half. Slovenia's 10th place was their best showing at the tournament, and their Matjaz Brumen was match top scorer with 13 goals.
In Cologne, Tunisia defeated the Czech Republic 25-21 in the match for 11th place, paving the way to victory by breaking a 13-13 halftime-tie for a 19-14 lead. Tunisia's Aymen Hammed led the scoring with seven goals.