Flawless preliminary round, brilliant prospects: Germany’s handball players secured group victory at the World Cup with a gala performance.
National coach Markus Gaugisch’s team, which was particularly strong defensively, stormed to their third win in the third game with a 33:17 (19:10) win against Poland and goes into the main round with the ideal starting position of 4:0 points.
Co-captain Alina Grijseels (7 goals) was the best thrower for the selection of the German Handball Federation (DHB) in the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, Denmark, who showed by far her best tournament performance in front of 1,800 spectators. The aggressive DHB defense drove the Poles to desperation, and the German team impressed with their real killer mentality in front of the opposing goal.
Three decades after the historic World Cup triumph in 1993, which celebrates its 30th anniversary on Tuesday, the foundation stone has been laid for a new World Cup glory hour. From Thursday, Germany will fight in the next phase of the tournament for the targeted quarter-finals and the associated ticket for an Olympic qualifying tournament.
Co-hosts Denmark and Romania have already been determined as the main round opponents. As the third team, either Serbia or the blatant outsider Chile is waiting for the German team, which not only impressed against the Poles in terms of play but also physically.
Handball World Cup 2023: Dream start for Germany against Poland
In the first “extremely decisive match” (Gaugisch), the DHB women got off to a dream start. With a good defense, which was surprisingly vulnerable in the first two games against Japan (31:30) and Iran (45:22), the DHB selection already forced the first Polish one when the score was 8:4 (12th). Time out.
An almost seven-minute phase without a goal of their own did not initially faze the Poles. But thanks to a secure bulwark in front of their own goal, a strong goalkeeper Katharina Filter and an extremely fast transition game, Germany pulled away again.
Gaugisch’s team not only survived being twice outnumbered unscathed, but also scored one more goal than their opponents. After a 6-0 run, the DHB selection took the lead for the first time with ten goals at 19:9 (30th).
Nothing changed in terms of superiority after the break. Germany forced the EM-13. in his attack he repeatedly made mistakes and provoked fouls. The lead kept growing and growing. The Poles completely gave up, the DHB selection continued to work. By the middle of the second half, the DHB opponent had only scored two (!) goals.