Jeromy van der Ban (23) was later part of the selection than his teammates. He was only called up at the very last moment, so he did not participate in the preparation tournament in Switzerland. “At the invitation of assistant national coach Wai Wong, I trained a few days before the tournament at Papendal,” says Van der Ban. “We were eating there, when national coach Staffan Olsson suddenly came to me and asked if I still wanted to go to the World Cup. Of course I wanted that!”
“I would actually work that Monday again, but then I had to arrange everything. Fortunately my employer supports me enormously when it comes to handball,” he adds.
World stars
During the World Cup, the Netherlands was in the preliminary round with Guinea, North Macedonia and Hungary and the Orange went second to the main round, in which Qatar, France and Austria wait. The French in particular made a deep impression on the duo. “You experience every match differently,” says Nagtegaal. “Austria was exciting because we had to win it, but you play against real world stars against France.”
“France is really the top of the world,” adds Van der Ban. “They are so strong, fast and individually so skilled.”