Backed by their goalkeeper Yara ten Holte, who was awarded Player of the Match, presented by Grundfos after 16 saves, the Dutch side turned a six-goal deficit around before the break before taking control in the last minutes and winning 29:22.
With the optimum of four points on their account after the opening win against Iceland, the Netherlands are close to the main round, while Germany’s fate will be decided in their last match against Iceland.
GROUP F
Netherlands vs Germany 29:22 (15:14)
- the first half was already a game of two halves: in the 13th minute, Germany were ahead 10:4 thanks to an incredible defence and high shooting efficiency, then Dutch goalkeeper Yara ten Holte turned the match around and the Netherlands took their first lead at 14:13
- ten Holte, who played for German club Dortmund before she joined Odense in Denmark, saved nine shots before the break, including three penalties – a saving percentage of 42 per cent after 30 minutes
- after the break, the Germans managed to avoid the needle-pin counter-attacks of the Netherlands with a higher shooting efficiency, but still caused too many mistakes on both sides of the court to turn the match around
- finally, the Netherlands decided the match with a 8:3 run from 18:18 to their first four-goal lead at 26:21 in minute 55
- the best scorers were Dione Housherr with seven goals for the Netherlands and Alina Grijseels, in her 100th international match, with five strikes for Germany
No anniversary party for Grijseels
The two favoured teams of group F delivered a tough battle. Both sides fought intensely for every ball and every centimetre on the court, knowing the high importance with regards to their main round hopes. Germany had to replace three injured back court players: Nieke Kühne is already back home with a knee injury, Viola Leuchter is ill and Annika Lott was injured in the final training. Therefore, Dana Bleckmann was called up from Germany for her first ever international match.
But despite those injuries, Germany had a brilliant start in the 100th international match for Alina Grijseels (her father is Dutch, her mother German), who scored five times in her anniversary game. But when Yara ten Holte started her engines, Germany lost their rhythm completely and scored only four goals in 17 minutes after leading 10:4.
The Netherlands did exactly what everybody had expected: turning turnovers into counter-attack goals, supported by Dione Housheer’s long-range efforts. In crunch time, the Netherlands kept their heads up high, while under pressure, Germany caused too many mistakes.
We will find some Advent gifts for Yara ten Holte on the Christmas market, she can choose. She was simply brilliant today. When she had saved the first penalty, she was on fire. And we exactly needed her to help us in that moment. We conceded only 22 goals, this is a good sign for defence and goalkeepers.
We started well. First half we go in plus one and that’s a normal result against Netherlands, so there’s no reason to give up. I think we had 20 very perfect minutes and then Netherlands showed us how to play handball. Individual, collective and whole team or in small groups. They are very, very good and we had no chance.
