Led by an outstanding goalkeeper Katharina Filter and an accurate Julia Maidhof, Germany’s handball players also won the second Olympic qualifying game and are almost certain to qualify for the Summer Olympics in Paris. After the 28:24 (11:7) against European Championship third place Montenegro on Saturday in Neu-Ulm, national coach Markus Gaugisch’s team has 4:0 points and can plan to take part in the Olympics for the first time since 2008.
If outsiders Paraguay do not win the subsequent game against Slovenia, the DHB selection’s qualification for the summer games would be perfect before the end of the tournament against the South Americans on Sunday (1.30 p.m. on ARD and Dyn).
Otherwise, just one point against Paraguay is enough to achieve the big goal. The best German thrower in front of 4,269 spectators was backcourt player Maidhof, who scored nine goals in her 50th international match.
Rely on goalkeeper filters
“It is important that we take this step. For the team and the entire sport,” said Gaugisch before the duel with Montenegro. But his charges started out nervous. In contrast to the convincing 31:25 opening win against Slovenia, there was not much success in attack and only one goal in the first seven minutes.
At least goalkeeper Filter was once again reliable. The 25-year-old shone with numerous saves and, as against the Slovenians, was the strong support between the posts that had been hoped for. Her teammates were compact on defense, but struggled on offense. Luckily, Maidhof showed great nerve and converted all four seven meters in the opening quarter of an hour.
The offense really came into play in the second half. : Image: dpa
In the middle of the first half, the DHB selection’s cushion was four goals for the first time at 7:3. But even though Montenegro remained scoreless for eight minutes in this phase, the German team was unable to gain a decisive lead because the best chances were repeatedly wasted.
The weak finish remained the big drawback. The throwing effectiveness in the first half was just 52 percent. It was mainly thanks to Filter that we still went into the break with a four-goal lead.
Published/Updated: Published/Updated: Michael Reinsch, Berlin Published/Updated: Recommendations: 12
After the change, the DHB team turned up the heat. Suddenly things were going well on offense too. Within a few minutes, the sixth-placed team in the World Cup pulled away to within ten goals (20:10). This broke the rival’s resistance. With the fans cheering, the German team continued to concentrate in the final stages so that victory was no longer in danger.