With a confident performance, Germany’s handball players secured their ticket to the European Championships early. The team of national coach Markus Gaugisch achieved an easy 32:18 (17:7) victory against Slovakia in Düsseldorf and can therefore plan for the finals from November 28th to December 15th in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland.
“It was an all-round successful week,” said Gaugisch. From the victories, the team can “develop the self-image to clearly dominate against weaker teams. You first have to achieve this sovereignty.” And co-captain Emily Bölk summed up after the easily completed compulsory task: “We have tried a lot of new things. These are small steps that make us more variable and stronger. We are on the right track and will continue to give full throttle.”
The DHB selection, for which Jenny Behrend and Alexia Hauf were the best throwers with four goals each in front of 3,011 spectators, can use the qualifying games against the pointless group bottom Israel and Ukraine at the beginning of April as preparation for the fight for the Olympics a week later -Use ticket.
At the four-team tournament in Neu-Ulm, the German team wants to qualify for the Summer Games for the first time since 2008 against Slovenia, Montenegro and Paraguay. “The Olympics mean everything to me,” said Gaugisch. “I would get up day and night to make this happen.”
In the second duel with Slovakia, his charges needed a short run-up time to get the game under control – unlike the 40:18 in the first leg last Thursday. After ten minutes it was only 6:6. But then the DHB team turned up the heat and didn’t allow a goal for 17 minutes. The reward was a ten-goal cushion at halftime.
In anticipation of a certain victory, the sixth-placed World Cup player had a few lapses in concentration after the substitution, but continued to control the action and was particularly convincing in defense.
