After two games, the battle for the national handball championship has been decided in favor of Venlo. VOC lost to the Limburgers in an intense game 34-28 today. In Venlo, the team from Amsterdam could only keep up in the first half and then saw the home team quickly run out.
VOC started a lot better compared to the first final match. Where the team from Amsterdam quickly faced a large deficit last week, Rachel de Haze’s team started sharply: 5-6. Both teams were very evenly matched. The time penalty of Kim Molenaar, who will play for Copenhagen next year, brought Venlo into surplus and used it with two beautiful goals: 7-7.
on the track
Pipy Wolfs, who is leaving for Elche in Spain, brought VOC to 8-7 with a nice goal. Venlo needed some time to recover, but rumbled hard after the time-out. The Limburgers were three points clear (11-8) and put themselves in a comfortable position. What followed was an intense battle between two teams who gave each other little gift.
Text continues below the video.
Just before half time, VOC decided after a time-out to play with an extra field player. And with result, as the Amsterdam-squad made up three runs. Partly thanks to a very strong goalkeeper Romy Verweij and a lively attacking game, the score was 16-16 at halftime.
VOC sinks
The good feeling of the first half was quickly destroyed by Venlo, which ran to 23-19 within seven minutes. For VOC it was important to limit the damage as well as to stay on track. During the second half, Venlo walked further away from the team from Amsterdam and increased the gap to five points: 27-21. That difference could have been even bigger, but the home side hit the bar a number of times.
Venlo simply ran out to a bigger lead and was much more focused. The coverage of the Limburgers was also more in order and the VOC no longer had a grip. Venlo played the match in a controlled manner and gave VOC no more view of the national title: 34-27.
For the first time since 2019, there was a battle for the national title again. Before that, VOC was the strongest handball club in the Netherlands three times. Venlo crowns itself as national champion for the first time.