Second game, second victory: Germany’s handball players have already secured their ticket to the main round of the World Cup with a goal festival against Iran.
The team by national coach Markus Gaugisch outclassed Iran on Saturday (December 2nd, 2023) with 45:22 (25:12) and thus secured participation in the second phase of the tournament before the final preliminary round game day.
Johanna Stockschläder (eight goals) was in front of 1,800 spectators Jyske bench boxes in Herning, Denmark, the best thrower for the selection of the German Handball Federation (DHB), who could have won even more against the outsider given their imperfect defense. At times even the German World Cup record victory from 2007, a 45:12 against Paraguay, seemed to be within reach.
Slight criticism of the defense
“We won clearly, no one was injured, everyone was stressed – everything was okay.”said coach Gaugisch. Captain Alina Grijseels spoke of one “Absolutely mandatory victory. It was well deserved.” She expressed criticism in view of the more than 20 goals conceded: “We’re not entirely happy with the defense in the first half because we let them play too much.” Gaugisch would also have one “few solutions” his teams “Wished for something more confident”.
Preliminary finals against Poland
Germany now goes into the preliminary round final against Poland on Monday (8:30 p.m.) with the optimal score of 4-0 points. Despite the early qualification, the game is of great importance for the rest of the tournament because the points from the preliminary round are against those who also qualified teams be taken into the main round.
For the DHBteam The game against Iran turned out to be a better warm-up for the groundbreaking duel. Gaugisch used the game to give as many players in his squad as possible time on the field. Backcourt player Annika Lott, who suffered a blow to the shoulder at 31:30 at the start of the World Cup against Japan, was rested and replaced by Mareike Thomaier.
The Iranian women, who played with headscarves, tried to pose a challenge to the DHB women at the beginning with a seven-on-six in cover. This project met with little success. They did initially create some gaps in the German circle. But ball losses and technical errors helped the German team to numerous easy hits into the empty goal.
Class difference at the first international match
The class difference in the first international duel between the two nations became apparent early on. At 9:5 (14th minute), the German team took the lead with four goals for the first time and expanded this to ten goals within a few minutes – 20:10 (23rd). Iran, who had already conceded 15:35 against the Poles at the start of the tournament, were now making more and more mistakes and Gaugisch was happily making substitutions. After the break, the handball dwarf finally ran out of strength.
It is still unclear who Germany will fight against in the main round for a place in the targeted quarter-finals. Most likely a duel with the highly rated co-hosts Denmark awaits. The three other possible opponents are Romania, Serbia and Chile.
The goal of the DHB women at the European Championships in Denmark, Norway and Sweden is to reach the quarter-finals and the associated ticket for an Olympic qualification tournament in the spring of next year.