Second game, second defeat – a false start: Germany’s handball players are in danger of an early Olympic exit. The team of national coach Markus Gaugisch, who started with medal dreams, failed again in their own chances in the 28:31 (12:19) defeat against World Cup fourth-placed Sweden and now have to worry about their targeted place in the quarter-finals.
As in the opening defeat against South Korea (22:23), captain Emily Bölk and co. were far too wasteful in front of the opposing goal. In addition, the German defense initially had little access to the nimble Scandinavians, and the clear improvement in performance after the break came too late. The best German shooters were co-captain Alina Grijseels, Julia Maidhof and Jenny Behrend with five goals each.
With 0:4 points, Germany now has its back against the wall in preliminary group A. Next opponent on Tuesday (9:00 a.m./ZDF and Eurosport) is Slovenia, which South Korea defeated 30:23 on Sunday. After that, they will face world champions Denmark (Thursday) and European champions Norway (Saturday). The four best teams in the group of six will advance to the quarter-finals.
With the Sweden game, “the book will be opened anew,” said coach Gaugisch before the match: “Everything that was is gone and we can’t get it back. And we still have four games ahead of us. Sweden is the first benchmark.”
However, just like in the World Cup quarter-finals seven months ago (20:27), Sweden proved to be too strong. The DHB women held on until Julia Maidhof made it 4:4 (6th minute), but after almost five minutes without a goal they quickly fell behind. In addition, goalkeeper Katharina Filter hardly managed to get hold of a ball until the score was 7:11 after a quarter of an hour.
Sarah Wachter now moved between the posts, but the defensive play did not improve at first. With the score at 7:13 (19th minute), Gaugisch took the first time-out to shake his players awake. But that did little to help. At half-time, Germany was already seven (!) goals behind.
The German team began the second period with renewed vigor, even coming within four goals at times – but again there were a number of missed throws that nipped a possible comeback in the bud.
Sweden – Germany 31:28 (19:12). – Goals: Carlson (7), Blohm (3), Hagman (3/1 seven-meter throw), Koppang (3/2), Lindqvist (3), Roberts (3), Hansson (2), Löfqvist (2), Axner (1), Bundsen (1), Lundström (1), Strömberg (1), Thorleifsdottir (1) for Sweden – Behrend (5), Grijseels (5), Maidhof (5), Lott (3), Bölk (2), Leuchter (2), Smits (2), Antl (1), Behnke (1), Döll (1), Stockschläder (1) for Germany. – Spectators in Paris: 5765 (sold out)
Source: www.sport.de
