Tuesday, December 14, 2021
World Cup in the quarter-finals
After the quick start, the DHB team has no chance
The German handball players start furiously in their World Cup quarter-finals against hosts Spain. But then too little goes too long. A short catch-up chase by the DHB team is not enough to come within striking distance again.
Flight home instead of semi-finals: The dream of the first World Cup medal in 14 years has burst for Germany’s handball women. The DHB selection lost in the quarter-finals of the world championship against hosts Spain with 21:26 (10:14) and returns home without the long-awaited precious metal. The best thrower for the team of national coach Henk Groener was in front of 2000 spectators in Granoller’s backcourt player Julia Maidhof with six goals.
After the weak performance in the hefty 16:32 bankruptcy against Denmark at the end of the main round, the German team swore: This won’t happen to us again. This attitude was felt from the first second. The defense initially stood like a wall and left the Spaniards hardly a gap. In addition, goalkeeper Dinah Eckerle provided additional security with a few parades in the initial phase.
The reward was a quick 3-0 lead after five minutes, which caused Spain coach Jose Ignacio Prades to take an early break. The World Cup host only scored the first goal in the game after eight minutes. Although not everything went according to plan with the German selection in attack, thanks to the convincing defensive performance, the lead was initially kept constant at three to four goals.
In the middle of the first half, however, some technical errors crept in, so that Spain were able to reduce to 5-7. “We just throw the balls away at the front too easily,” complained Groener during the time-out. But the flow was gone – and so was the lead at 8: 8 (22nd minute). Shortly afterwards, the German team was behind in the game for the first time. Now the DHB women weakened in the cover and ran into the Spanish defense again and again in their own attacks. To make matters worse, Alina Grijseels also missed a seven meter score with a score of 9:12. So it went into the break with a four-goal deficit.
After the change, Katharina Filter moved into the German goal for Eckerle. The European beach champion provided the much-needed support with a few parades. The DHB team fought its way back into the game step by step – without initially being able to significantly reduce the gap. But body language and will were right. In the middle of the second half hope again germinated at 17:19 – which was gone a little later after a 3-0 run by Spain. The DHB team never gave up, but continued to miss out on the best chances and could no longer force the turnaround. At the end of the World Cup trip, there was frustration instead of jubilation.