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World Cup, handball – placement games 5-8, December 15, 2023
11:30
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11:14
However, Emily Bölk was also aware that it would not be an easy undertaking to press the reset button again with a broken psyche. “Of course it’s hard to get up again now,” emphasized the backcourt player and commented on the defeat against Sweden: “It’s hard to digest. Now it’s important to put a stop to it as quickly as possible.” National coach Markus Gaugisch was also disappointed: “We really wanted to get to the semi-finals and are sad that we didn’t make it. We’ve played a top tournament up to this point.”
11:01
The first placement game against the Czech Republic is by no means unimportant. After all, who the German team has to compete against in the Olympic qualifying tournament in April depends on the final ranking. Then the DHB selection would like to qualify for the Summer Olympics for the first time since Beijing 2008. With the move into the knockout phase, entry into this tournament was already secured. “We now have two very important games ahead of us. We definitely want to secure fifth place,” said leader Emily Bölk combatively to the sports show.
10:53
The conclusion is that the German team is still a long way from being at the top of the world. There are no longer any doubts about that, at least since the devastating quarter-final defeat against Sweden 20:27 (6:16). On Tuesday, national coach Markus Gaugisch’s team had a collective blackout at the start of the game, when almost 15 minutes without a goal of their own nipped their delicate medal dreams in the bud. Hardly any danger of scoring, lots of missed throws and technical errors on the assembly line – the list of defects was long. Now it’s about a conciliatory World Cup conclusion.
10:45
Hello and welcome to the Women’s World Cup! The German national team meets the Czech Republic in the first of two placement games. Kick-off in the Jyske Bank Boxes in Herning, Denmark is at 11:30 a.m.