There were five cross-pool semi-finals on day 6. Catalonia against the Czech Republic was the most unpredictable with the Catalans slight favourites. But the Czechs had grown during this tournament and showed today that they are becoming better and better. The first half was rather equal with the Catalans playing a little bit better, but also a little bit too wild. The Czechs on the other hand never lost their head and never panicked. After a close first half this resulted in a second part of the match where they slowly eased ahead. In the last minutes Catalonia tried desperately to close the gap but did not succeed. The 19-17 win of the Czech was fully deserved so they will now play for 5^th place.

Photos by Marco Spelten  (www.actionphotography.nl)

Germany shocked the Belgian team in the first 15 minutes. They boldly took an 8-5 lead with really good play which forced the coach of Belgium to take some measures. The two substitutions were really successful and in a short time they straightened out the situation. In the second half the German team accepted the superiority of Belgium, with the 28-17 end result being a good reflection of the situation in the field.

England had decided to start with their best players against the Dutch side to see where they were standing at this moment. In the manner of the way they had played so far they hoped they could hurt Holland in the beginning but the Dutch coach had prepared his team well. They never allowed the English to play their normal game and after a 9-1 lead the match was actually done. The final score was 28-12.

In the other two matches Turkey enjoyed their first victory of this week. They beat Slovakia 16-11. Portugal had no problems with Hungary, winning 28-13. All these results resulted in the following pairings for the matches of the final day.

For 9^th place        Poland-Turkey

For 7^th place         Hungary-Catalonia

For 5^th place        Czech Republic- Portugal

For 3^rd place                       England-Germany

For 1^st place                        Netherlands-Belgium

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