Winning streak extended, knockout round in sight: Germany’s handball players have increased their chances of reaching the quarter-finals at their home World Cup. The team of national coach Markus Gaugisch celebrated their fourth victory in their fourth game with an easy 36:26 (20:14) against the Faroe Islands and can already achieve their first big goal early on Thursday.
The German team did need a 15-minute warm-up phase at the start of the main round against the World Cup debutants. But, egged on by the 7,122 fans in Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle, captain Antje Döll and her teammates picked up the pace and raised faint hopes of a medal with the next courageous performance.
:“Women’s sports still run under the radar”
The Handball World Cup begins in Germany on Wednesday. National coach Markus Gaugisch talks about the importance of women’s handball, problems on the television market and the plan to finally defeat a top nation at the World Cup.
Left winger Döll once again became the best German thrower with six hits. After initial difficulties, the key to victory was once again the compact 6-0 defense, which resulted in numerous quick attacks.
With 6:0 points, the DHB selection confidently leads the main round group II and now has two match points: Just one point in the next game on Thursday (6 p.m./Sporteurope.TV) against Montenegro (4:2 points) would be enough to advance to the quarter-finals early. If they win, they would even be guaranteed to advance as group winners – regardless of the last main round game on Saturday against Spain (2:4).
The best two teams in the group of six reach the quarter-finals, which Germany would also play in Dortmund like the two remaining main round games. The big goal is the first medal since World Cup bronze in 2007. “Everything is possible. Norway is a little bit above everyone else, the rest can be beaten,” said Florian Kehrmann on Sporteurope.TV. The TBV Lemgo men’s coach was enthusiastic and drew parallels to his own past: “We also played the intermediate round in Dortmund on the way to the title in 2007, maybe that’s a good omen.”
Despite the flawless preliminary round in Stuttgart, Coach Gaugisch had strongly warned his players about their first appearance in Dortmund. The Faroe Islands have a “very unpleasant style of play” and are an opponent “who really has quality”. The German team was initially able to convince themselves of this quality. At the beginning things weren’t going well at the front, there was a lack of access at the back – the result was 8:8 after a quarter of an hour.
Germany was not impressed by the straightforward style of play of the outsider, who had already surprised Spain (27:25) in the preliminary round. When Katharina Filter parried again at the back and Döll increased the score to 15:10 (22nd) with her fourth goal in the fourth attempt, the arena was completely transformed into a black, red and gold party zone. The German team even survived a phase of almost eight minutes with only one goal at the beginning of the second half unscathed. While such a negative run had often caused a crunch in the past, this time the DHB seven responded in their own way: A 4-0 run within a good two minutes ensured a reassuring 25:17 (40th) – the preliminary decision.
