Krefeld (dpa) – After the 25:31 bankruptcy of the German handball women in the prestige duel against the Netherlands, both rivals sent a strong signal against the Russian invasion war in Ukraine.
All the players held up a blue and yellow poster with the inscription “#StandwithUkraine” to the applause of the 1718 spectators in Krefeld. “There are always discussions about the situation there. Of course, that’s also in the minds of the players. I’m glad that we showed that we’re not satisfied with this situation,” said national coach Henk Groener.
“In the end we ran out a bit”
In a duel with the 2019 world champion, his team had previously suffered their first defeat in the European Championship qualification. As second in Group 3, the DHB selection still has every chance of a ticket for the final round in November of this year. “In the first half we played the way we wanted in defense. After the break we were no longer able to stop their attacks,” Groener summed up.
The best throwers for the German team, each with six goals, were captains Emily Bölk and Alina Grijseels, both of whom were playing their 50th international match. “It’s a shame. In the end, we ran out a little,” said Bölk. “We weren’t as aggressive in defense and we found it harder and harder to find the goal in attack.” The DHB team can already do better in the second leg on Saturday.
“There’s still a lot of room for improvement”
As at the World Cup in December 2021, the DHB selection had a hard time attacking over long distances. Only three goals were scored in the first quarter of an hour. It was only thanks to the brilliant goalkeeper Katharina Filter that the German team was not further behind at this point.
When the score was 3:6, the national coach reacted with the first time-out, during which he readjusted his team. With a 4-0 run within three minutes, the German team took the lead. Now it was a duel at eye level, in which the DHB team also put away the shortcoming of many time penalties and went into the half-time break with a two-goal advantage.
But after the restart, the DHB women found it difficult to get going and were again three goals behind at 14:17 (40th). In an effort to catch up, the hosts made too many mistakes, so the turnaround was no longer successful. “We challenged the Netherlands, but there is still a lot of room for improvement,” said Bölk.