The Dutch handball players won their last match in the main phase on Wednesday with large numbers. The team of national coach Per Johansson won 42-25 against Montenegro in Skopje and is certain of a World Cup ticket, partly due to Spain’s loss.
The Netherlands already led 21-15 halfway through and expanded that lead in the second half. Inger Smits was the top scorer for the Orange with seven goals, followed by Laura van der Heijden and Merel Freriks (both six hits).
Partly thanks to the convincing victory over Montenegro, the Netherlands finished third in group II of the main phase. As number three in the group, the Orange can go to the Slovenian capital Ljubljana for a match for fifth place.
In theory, only Spain had a chance on Tuesday to knock the Netherlands out of third place in Group II. Spain had to win against France by at least fourteen goals, but it did not. On the contrary: France won 36-23.
The certainty of fifth or sixth place is more than just a formality for the Netherlands, because tickets for the World Cup in 2023 can also be distributed. The top three countries of this tournament qualify directly for the World Cup, which is organized by Norway, Denmark and Sweden.
The three organizing countries have already qualified for the World Cup and will not be included in the European Championship ranking when the starting tickets are distributed. Since the Danes and Norwegians are already certain of a place in the last four and Sweden finished third in group I, that third ticket goes to the Netherlands.
In the duel with Sweden (Friday at 3 p.m.), the team of national coach Johansson is therefore mainly honored. For the gold, these European Championships France, Montenegro, Denmark and Norway are still in the race.
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