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Alina Grijseels' seven goals weren't enough to win either
Photo:
IMAGO/Patrick Suephke / IMAGO/Lobeca
The German handball players have lost their second European Championship game.
Co-hosts Montenegro was the better team from a German perspective at 25:29 (12:15).
Although the DHB women fought passionately, they were rarely able to stop Montenegro's attacks.
Nevertheless, after the opening win against Poland, anything is still possible, the three best teams in each group of four move into the main round.
Montenegro had won their opening game against Spain and are sure to go through.
The last opponent in the preliminary round of the DHB selection is Spain, fourth in the World Cup, on Wednesday (8.30 p.m. / stream: Sportdeutschland.TV).
The best German throwers in front of 4500 spectators in Podgorica were the two captains Emily Bölk and Alina Grijseels with seven goals each.
Germany kept up for a long time and showed a decent performance in attack.
After a good 20 minutes, the German team was still four goals behind at 8:12 for the first time.
Unlike the narrow 25:23 win at the start against Poland, when the DHB women were also four goals behind in the first half, the gap could hardly be reduced this time until the break.
After the change, Germany started energetically and equalized 16:16 within seven minutes.
At that point, Xenia Smits was no longer there: The backcourt player from the German champions SG BBM Bietigheim saw the red card shortly before because of her third time penalty.
Germany is running out of power
This weakened the German team, especially on the defensive.
Although the DHB women fought selflessly, they continued to struggle against the robust hosts in attack.
In the middle of the second half they were again chasing a three-goal deficit.
In the hot final phase, Bölk in particular repeatedly took responsibility from the back and let the DHB team hope for a turnaround with their goals.
But the gaps in defense could not be closed, allowing Montenegro to keep hitting back.
In the end, the German team ran out of strength.
Preparations for the tournament were overshadowed by the affair surrounding long-time Bundesliga coach André Fuhr.
Fuhr, who in the meantime also looked after the national team, is accused of abuse of power and psychological terror.
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