Should be fit again by the World Cup: goal scorer Alina Grijseels from champions Borussia Dortmund
Photo: imago images / Ralf Kuckuck
There was a final and therefore a little test of what should be repeated in the following weeks. At the test tournament of the women’s handball national team on Sunday in Madrid, Spain and Germany met. A few days before the start of the World Cup, the German women and their Dutch coach Henk Groener got a foretaste of the pressure situations that will follow at the big tournament. In the games against Poland (31:27) and Slovakia (32:25) the Spaniards, like the Germans, remained victorious and fought in a direct duel to start the global championship fights with a maximum boost in self-confidence of the German Handball Federation (DHB) will begin next Thursday near Valencia.
The final against the Spaniards was lost at 22:23 – and yet national coach Groener left the hall with a good feeling. The Germans showed a courageous performance against the vice world champions, fought their way back into the game after a fast four-goal deficit, and even took the lead in the second half before the bottom line was a narrow defeat. “We know what we still have to work on,” said the national coach.
A few days before the start of the World Cup, Groener worries his co-captain. Alina Grijseels injured herself in training the day before the flight to Spain and did not play against the Spaniards on Sunday at the tournament on the weekend. “With Alina it’s getting better day by day,” said the national coach at last, and there was a large portion of hope in his words. Grijseels plays a central role in his planning, especially when it comes to attacking, the playmaker can hardly be replaced. Over the past few years, the 25-year-old has developed into a player of international stature at the current German champions Borussia Dortmund, because she combines her own scoring risk with the ability to create good situations for her colleagues.
In the Champions League, she currently leads the scorers list and drove to the national team with a lot of self-confidence. “For us it is first of all about creating a good starting position for the main round in our preliminary group,” said Grijseels, before she was thrown back by a wound on her ankle.
The association, the national coach and the player are confident that they will be able to play against the Czech Republic in the best possible formation at the World Cup opener on Thursday in order to win the group in the premiere game and then against Slovakia (Saturday) and Hungary (Monday). The first three of the group of four make it into the second phase of the tournament, but the DHB women can only achieve their own goals if they get through the preliminary round well. Only two teams from the main round make it to the quarter-finals, the results from the preliminary round are taken over – so from Thursday onwards, the minimum goal for the team and its coach will be on the agenda.
The World Cup in Spain means a turning point for Groener, because his future as national coach will be decided on the Iberian Peninsula. The Dutchman’s contract originally expired at the end of the year and was only provisionally extended for another three months until the end of March. The contract will only be extended if the World Cup is successful – the national coach and the national players know that.
There is therefore a special form of pressure on a team that has been trying for years to break through to the top of the world. Since the Dutchman took office, the German handball players have made positive headlines at all tournaments, surprising with strong performances, in order to still miss the hoped-for leap into the semifinals. Everyone involved knows that the Groener era could end if the round of medals takes place again without the DHB. If the German women miss the quarter-finals, a possible will become a definitive.
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