Germany bounce back

It was 3-3 after ten minutes but then Heiner Brand's side went on a 7-2 run and led 17-14 at the interval.

They didn't relinquish that advantage in the second period with Pascal Hens and Florian Kehrmann combining for 17 goals in the match and goalkeeper Henning Fritz sending the 11,000 crowd in Halle wild with two penalty saves in quick succession.

France also rebounded from a defeat 48 hours ago as they downed Poland 31-22 thanks to a strong second-half performance.

The European champions trailed 12-11 at half-time but went on a 11-5 charge over the final half of the second period with Jérôme Fernandez top-scoring with six.

Both the big guns remain two points behind surprise package Iceland in Group I, the underdogs overcoming a three-goal deficit at half-time to beat Tunisia 36-30.

Ciudad Real star Olafur Stefansson led the way by bagging eight with Logi Geirsson (7) and Snorri Gudjonsson (6) also chipping in.

Spain, Croatia and Hungary won their fourth consecutive games with victories over Russia, Denmark and the Czech Republic respectively in Group II.

Defending champions Spain were thankful for ten goals from Juan Garcia Lorenzana and eight from Raul Enterrios as they downed the three-time winners 33-29.

Croat superstar Ivano Balić netted on nine occasions for the Olympic champions but they were thankful for a 28-26 victory after the Danes fought back from a 15-12 half-time deficit to level at 25-25 with five minutes to go.

Hungary, beaten finalists in 1986, led 17-10 at the break and held on for a 28-25 success thanks to nine goals from Filip Jicha.

The top four teams in each six-team pool reach Tuesday's quarter-finals.