Spain dominated the Netherlands by six goals in a great first half (8-14), but ended up drawing at 29
The match makes a pass to the ‘semis’ a chimera based on other results before facing France
In a match in which it went from more to less, Spain has tied this Sunday by 29-29 against the Netherlands and their chances of reaching the semifinals are so complicated that only a miracle in the results of the third day together with a hypothetical victory on Wednesday against the Olympic champion France would allow them to maintain a thread of hope.
DATA SHEET
EUROPEAN FEMALE
ned
ESP
LINEUPS
NETHERLANDS, 29
(15+14): Yara Ten Holte (l.), Merel Freriks (6), Nikita Van der Vliet (1), Inger Smits (6), Dione Housheer, Anjtje Malestein (2, 1p.), Bo van Wetering ( 1) -initial five-, Rinka Duijndam (ps, 1), Estavana Polman (4), Laura van der Heijden (5), Zoe Sprengers (2) and Catarina Molenaar (1).
SPAIN, 29
(17+12): Nicole Wiggins (l.), Carmen Campos (1), Kaba Gassama (1), Paula Valdivia (4), Shandy Barbosa (4), Paula Arcos (3), Sole López (3) -seven initial-, Maddi Aalla (ps), Lara González, Almudena Rodríguez (2), Esther Arrojería (3), Lysa Tchaptchet (1), Silvia Arderius (2), Alba Spugnini (1), Maitane Echeverria (1) and Jennifer Gutiérrez (3, 1p.).
REFEREES
Marina Dupli and Olena Pobedrina (Ukraine). They excluded the Dutch Nikita Van der Vliet (18:41) and Merek Freriks (33:13 and 45:57) for two minutes; and the Spanish Lysa Tchaptchet (19:26) and Paula Valdivia (25:58).
MARKER EVERY FIVE MINUTES
2-4, 4-6, 7-10, 9-14, 15-17 (half), 17-19, 21-20, 22-24, 24-25, 27-27 and 29-29 (final).
INCIDENTS
Match corresponding to the second day of Group B of the Main Round of the European Women’s Handball Championship played at the Boris Trajkovski Sports Center (Skopje, Macedonia).
It was a shame, since in the overall score of the match, those of José Ignacio Prades were better than their rivals. They only explain that a series of errors in very clear shots were not won, some arbitration decision that only the Ukrainian couple could understand and the bad luck of a team that has lost Alicia Fernández and its goalkeepers Merche Castellanos and the veteran Silvia Navarro due to injury (of enormous gravity) during the tournament.
Incidentally, while society is bombarded with messages about promoting women’s sport, Teledeporte and consequently RTVE have insulted the Warriors and at that time to all the women who practice handball cutting the game at halftime and throwing it on the web to broadcast a Copa del Rey men’s soccer game.
Returning to Skopje, after the painful defeat against the Romanians Spain he needed the victory to strengthen his chances of reaching the semi-finals and came out determined to burn their ships, offering the best first 20 minutes of the tournament so far with a firm defense and perfect criteria in attack with Carmen Campos as ‘brain’.
If Nicole Wiggins’s six saves are added to this, it is explained how Campos put the Spanish three goals ahead after 10 minutes (4-7) and how a 0-3 run with goals from Esther Arrojeria, Almudena Rodríguez and Sole López placed an exciting 7-13 (min. 16:33).
Sole López celebrates a great goal from the end
| EFE
Nevertheless, the Dutch began to adjust their defense and began to recover on the scoreboard with two goals in a row from Van der Heijden coinciding with the exclusion of Kaba Gassama (10-14). Spain ran out of ideas and a new exclusion, this time of Paula Valdivia in a real refereeing disaster, gave wings to a Dutch team that was finally able to run and closed the first half with two goals from Smits and Freriks (15-17) . In other words, problems were ventured against the rival who controversially snatched the gold from the Warriors in the 2019 World Cup.
The second half could not have started worse, with a Spanish triple miss in a counter (Duijndam stopped the first, the second went to the post and Barbosa sent the rebound wide). In addition, the Ukrainian refereeing couple went ahead with their unfortunate performance by excluding Gasama and the Netherlands met again in the two areas to draw with a goal from Sprengers (18-18, min. 38:03).
Gassama tries to block Molenaar’s launch
| EFE
Even the Central Europeans went ahead with a goal from goal to goal by Duijndam (21-20), but there the Spanish response was sensational with a partial 1-4 with goals from Paula Valdivia, Jennifer Gutiérrez and Paula Arcos (22-24).
However, the irruption of the Dutch goal with three consecutive saves in throws of six meters and a couple of hasty attacks balanced the electronic again with 11 minutes remaining (24-24).
There, two consecutive goals from Malestein and the fourteenth Spanish loss allowed the Netherlands to attack to leave by two goals with eight minutes remaining at 27-26. The Warriors kept fighting until the end and a great defense and a great goal from Maitane Echeverria established a draw (29-29) that was maintained when the Netherlands committed an attacking foul in the last attack.