Main round instead of flying home: Germany’s handball women have trembled at the European Championship in the next round.
The team of national coach Markus Gaugisch lost 21:23 (10:11) against Spain, fourth in the World Cup, in the final preliminary round, but ended the first phase of the tournament in third place in group D thanks to the better goal difference compared to Poland.
“Fortunately we’re going to Skopje,” said Gaugisch, blowing deeply: “But today we’re mostly depressed about the way we played this game. It was cramped and we couldn’t find the solutions.”
Best German thrower in Podgorica was captain Alina Grijseels with six goals. Xenia Smits secured progress with 20 seconds to go.
Germany unusually nervous
The German team delivered a changeable performance in the all-or-nothing game and seemed nervous throughout the season. Numerous mistakes in the offensive game prevented a better result. Even a defeat with four goals would have meant the preliminary round.
But this is how the selection of the German Handball Federation started the second phase of the tournament in Skopje without a point. There it is first against the Netherlands (2:2) on Friday, other main round opponents are Olympic champions France (4:0) on Tuesday and Romania (0:4) on Wednesday. Montenegro (4:0) and Spain (2:2) complete the German main round group. The top two teams in the group of six advance to the semi-finals.
The only medal at a European championship to date was silver at the first edition in 1994, the last time the DHB women were on the podium at a major sporting event was when they won the bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships.
“We’re going full throttle and playing to win,” Gaugisch, for whom it is the first tournament as a DHB coach, announced before the game. In previous games he had seen a team “that had a lot of good moments in pressure situations”.
Smits stops shaking
But the German team found it extremely difficult against the offensive Spanish cover. It was a game of nerves right from the start, with Germany only leading once before the break (4:3 through Grijseels). The DHB selection was also handicapped by two early time penalties for Emily Bölk (20th).
In the second round, too, the German team rarely found the right solutions. Grijseels finally took over the scepter and brought their team back into the game after a short three-goal deficit (12:15). But Spain was unimpressed by the German equalizer (15:15) and went into the last ten minutes with a three-goal lead (21:18). Smits stopped the great shaking.