Germany’s handball players showed their best Olympic performance against Slovenia and suddenly have a good chance of reaching the quarter-finals. Now they face the top Scandinavian teams.
With a convincing performance, Germany’s handball players have perfected the long-awaited first victory in their Olympic comeback and greatly increased their chances of reaching the quarter-finals. Thanks to a strong defensive performance, the selection of national coach Markus Gaugisch beat Slovenia, including star player Ana Gros, 41:22 (16:9) and overtook their rivals in the table.
The DHB women were equally delighted and performed an exuberant dance of celebration on the court after the final whistle. In front of around 5,700 spectators in Paris, backcourt players Annika Lott and Xenia Smits were the best German scorers with seven goals each. Antje Döll and Julia Maidhof each scored six goals.
The unexpectedly clear success after two previous defeats has increased the DHB women’s chances of finishing the preliminary round in fourth place and thus moving into the knockout phase enormously. Only the best four teams from the two groups of six qualify for the quarter-finals. In the final preliminary round matches against World Cup third-placed Denmark and European champions Norway, the German handball players are clear outsiders.
Bölk weakens, Maidhof delivers
Gaugisch had demanded an aggressive defensive approach and his players complied with this request. The intensity of the game was extremely high. The German team showed small weaknesses in attack. Co-captain Emily Bölk in particular threw far too inaccurately. Julia Maidhof did better, being responsible for almost every second German goal in the early stages.
Slovenia played anything but well and made countless technical errors. From the middle of the first half, Germany accepted these gifts and eventually pulled ahead by eight goals (16:8). A decisive factor in the comfortable lead was not only the strong defense but also goalkeeper Katharina Filter, who put in her best performance of the tournament in the first half. “Keep it up, keep it up,” shouted Gaugisch from the sidelines. Behind him, German fans started a Mexican wave.
Wide awake at breakfast time
Although the alarm clock had already rung at 4:30 a.m., Germany’s handball players remained wide awake. The DHB women were highly efficient in front of the opposing goal and, thanks to impressive goals from Antje Döll and Annika Lott, were in the lead for the first time by ten goals in the 34th minute (19:9).
The fact that this German selection had lost the opening match against outsiders South Korea seemed inconceivable in view of their performance against Slovenia. After this performance, the DHB team can now go into the match against Denmark on Thursday with confidence.
Source: Stern
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