There was no sensation. Germany’s handball players put up a lot of resistance against Denmark, but left the court as losers. However, reaching the quarter-finals is still possible.
First there was consolation for unlucky Jenny Behrend, then Germany’s handball players vowed to take the last step towards the quarter-finals after a thriller without a happy ending. Despite a courageous and convincing performance, the DHB selection missed a possible surprise with a 27:28 (12:15) defeat against World Cup third-place Denmark and now has 2:6 points ahead of the group final against European champions Norway.
“We still feel like we’ve arrived in the tournament. The performance is impressive. We competed against a top team today and would have deserved a point. If we keep playing like this, we deserve to be in the quarter-finals,” said co-captain Emily Bölk.
In order to advance directly to the knockout phase at their first Olympic appearance since 2008 in Beijing, the team coached by national coach Markus Gaugisch must finish at least fourth. However, if they finish fourth, they would most likely face top favorite France in the round of the last eight.
Behrend misses equaliser
For the DHB women, the defeat against Denmark was the third Olympic setback in four games. After setbacks against South Korea and Sweden, the sixth-placed team at the World Cup could only win against Slovenia. In front of around 5,700 spectators, right winger Jenny Behrend was the best German scorer with six goals, but at the same time she was also a tragic figure.
Shortly before the end, the 28-year-old was stopped by Denmark’s goalkeeper and thus missed the chance to equalize. “I’m exhausted, disappointed, tired and very annoyed that I didn’t use the last chance. We wanted to get something today against a big opponent and the chance was there, but I didn’t have the nerve in the end,” said Behrend.
Few ideas in attack
Gaugisch had appealed to his players to surpass their performance in the Slovenia match. “If we want to be good, we have to beat a big team. We haven’t done that yet,” said the 50-year-old. And the DHB women got off to a good start. The World Cup sixth-place team was wide awake, especially in defense, and stole a lot of balls from the Danes. The 9:7 lead after just over a quarter of an hour was well deserved.
As a result, Germany’s handball players had increasing difficulty finding gaps in the opposing defense. The attacking game seemed to lack ideas during this phase, and the power from the backcourt was lacking. In addition, DHB goalkeeper Katharina Filter was initially barely able to parry a single shot from the Scandinavians. The favorite turned the game around with a 4-0 run. The substitution of goalkeeper Sarah Wachter had no effect.
Leadership thanks to Filter and Behrend
The Danes were far from their best performance. The DHB team was too imprecise in attack and made too little use of the numerous invitations. But because Filter thwarted one Danish chance after another, outside player Behrend actually scored to take the lead (20:19).
At this point, the sensational victory seemed very close. The DHB team then lost the lead due to too many fouls. With fewer players, Bölk and Co. saw their opponents pull ahead by four goals (21:25). In the final phase, the DHB selection managed to catch up again and was close to winning a point, but Behrend missed the last chance.
Source: Stern
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