Out of the dream! Germany’s handball players will probably have to prematurely bury their hopes of reaching the European Championship semi-finals. The team of national coach Markus Gaugisch lost in the cracking game to third place Denmark in the World Cup after a slump in the last 20 minutes with 22:30 (13:15), the chances of winning the first European Championship medal in 30 years are now only after the second tournament defeat theoretical nature.
The German team initially held up well in front of 4,025 spectators in the Vienna Stadthalle, mainly thanks to a strong defensive performance, and had a sniff of a surprise until the 40th minute (19:20). However, too many missed throws and an overall attack that was too harmless cost us a better result; Germany only scored two goals between the 42nd and 55th minutes. The best German thrower was circle runner Lisa Antl with four hits.
Germany now has 2:4 points in main round group 2 after the preliminary round defeat against the Netherlands, who also qualified (22:29) and the success against Switzerland (36:27). Other opponents are the previously unbeaten defending champions and Olympic champions Norway on Monday (6:00 p.m.) and Slovenia on Wednesday (3:30 p.m./both Sportdeutschland.TV). Only the first and second place teams in the group of six advance to the medal games, which also take place in Vienna.
“We’ll go in there and do our best, then we’ll have to see what comes of it,” Gaugisch announced. After the confident DHB performance against Switzerland, he had “a good feeling that we can still improve.” But nothing came of it at first, the DHB women initially got in their own way. After eight minutes, the statisticians had recorded no less than seven (!) tickets, the German team was 1:4 behind.
But because Bölk and Co. really worked hard in the 6-0 defense and nipped the Danish combination game in the bud with flexible, aggressive defensive work, they fought their way into the game better from minute to minute. In the 17th minute, Xenia Smits equalized to 7:7, four minutes later Annika Lott even took the first German lead at 9:8. However, it should be the last one until the half-time whistle.
The start of the second half belonged to the German team. Julia Maidhof followed up the quick equalizer with a double strike to give the DHB the lead with her goal to make it 17:16 (35th). And when goalkeeper Sarah Wachter saved a seven-meter shot a little later, everything suddenly seemed possible.
However, the hope of a German coup only lasted for a short time. Because when it came down to it, the German women once again lost their nerve on the offensive. Denmark, which had won all duels against the DHB selection since 2019, consistently took advantage of the German mistakes and pulled away to the supposed equalizer (19:20) shortly after a rejected counterattack by Jenny Behrend.