DHB women lose classic - EM

After the 25: 31 bankruptcy of German Handball women in the prestigdeds against the Netherlands, both rivals set a strong sign against the Russian invasion war in Ukraine. Together, all players on Thursday under the applause of the 1718 spectators in Krefeld held a blue-yellow poster with the inscription "#standwithukraine". "There are always talks about the location there. This is of course in the minds of the players in it. I am glad that we have shown that we are not satisfied with this situation," said Bundestrainer Henk Groener.

In the duel with the World Champion of 2019 his team had previously collected the first defeat in the EM qualification. "In the first half we played in the defense as we wanted it. After the break we were no longer able to stop their attacks," summed up Groener.

Despite the defeat, the German handball players have practically secure the EM ticket. According to the exclusion of Belarusian and Russian team, the EHF on Friday, the originally provided for April provided German qualifiers in Belarus with 10: 0 goals and 2: 0 points for Germany. The DHB team is now 5: 3 points in the new table of qualifying group 3 more table second behind the prematurely qualified Netherlands (8: 0). The two best teams of the six qualifying groups solve the EM ticket.

"In the end, a little the forces are assumed"

Best throwers for the German team with six goals each were the captains Emily Bölk and Alina Grijseels, both of which denied their 50th country. "It's a pity. In the end, a little the forces are out," Bölk said. "There we were not so aggressive in the defense and in the attack we have also found less the train to the gate." Already on Saturday it can make the DHB team better in the second leg.

As at the World Cup in December 2021, the DHB selection in the attack over long distances was difficult. In the first quarter of an hour, only three hits arrive. Only the glossy goalkeeper Katharina Filter was due to the fact that the German team was not higher at this time.

The national coach reacted at the booth of 3: 6 with the first time out where he recalled his team. With a 4: 0 course within three minutes, the German team was lead. Now it was a duel at eye level in which the DHB team also stretched the shortcoming of many timestrafs and went into the half-time break with a two-goal lead.

But after the restart, the DHB women came in motion difficult and were again at 14:17 (40th) with three goals behind. In an effort for a catch-up hunt, the hosts underlyed too many mistakes, so the turning did not succeed. "We demanded the Netherlands, but there is still a lot of air up," Bölk was.