Krefeld (dpa) – Germany’s handball women suffered their first defeat in the European Championship qualification in the prestige duel against the Netherlands.
The DHB selection lost to the 2019 world champion in front of 1718 spectators in Krefeld by 25:31 (12:10), but as second in Group 3 they still have every chance of a ticket for the final round in November of this year. 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. The second leg will take place in Amsterdam on March 5th.
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.