Stunt is just not possible for handball men against Sweden, Samir Benghanem drops out with knee injury | Other sports

There were still about fifty seconds to go when national coach Staffan Olsson and strategist Luc Steins had to unfold the plan for the decisive attack during a time-out. Builder Niels Versteijnen was told to play Bobby Schagen on the corner. The pass came, but the captain hit the legs of the refined goalkeeper Andreas Palicka. Because the last chance was also missed by Dani Baijens in the last second, a crazy match for the Netherlands ended in a huge deception.

The emotions came out for a while. Versteijnen pulled the shirt over his head, Schagen was inconsolable, goalkeeper Bart Ravensbergen dropped to his knees, and some fierce language followed here and there. The Orange team did not expect it to come so close to a sensation. After all, Sweden is the defending champion and a candidate to regain that title. But based on speed, resilience and emotion, the challenger narrowly missed the surprise.

Talking afterwards was easy. But what would have happened if the Dutch had started the second half a little better. The first five attacks yielded nothing, specialist Rutger ten Velde missed a penalty throw. Of course, Sweden took a lead in that period (15-18). And yet the Netherlands remained very well in the match.

Also when Samir Benghanem, the bear in coverage, disappeared from the field with an apparently serious knee injury. It caused quite a stir among the Dutch players and supporters in the SAP Arena in Mannheim.

Sweden always took the lead, and the Dutch team always had an answer ready. Of course through the lightning-fast builders Dani Baijens and Steins. But remarkably enough also through Lars Kooij, the circle player who had to replace Benghanem. Kooij, who plays for Emsdetten in the third Bundesliga, restored balance in four situations.

The wonderful match became a compelling battle. At 28-27, the Netherlands had two chances to open the – probably decisive – gap, but they failed twice. There was no response to Fleix Claar’s goal, a minute before the end, even after the timeout. A great opportunity to perform stunts was thus ruined.

The decision must be processed on the day of travel, the selection will board the train to Hamburg on Tuesday. The Dutch team will start the second phase of the tournament on Wednesday with a match against world champion Denmark. Norway, Slovenia and Portugal are the remaining opponents on the way to a place of honor, or a ticket for the OKT (Olympic qualifying tournament) for the Games in Paris next summer.