When Emily Bölk (M.) successfully pushed her way through Sweden’s defense for the first time, the score was already 0:7.
Photo: AFP/Bo Amstrup
When they woke up from Herning’s nightmare, tears rolled down. “It hurts so much,” complained Emily Bölk, the co-captain of the German handball players, with glassy eyes after the disastrous 20:27 defeat against the Swedes. She wasn’t the only one trying to find an explanation for the spectacle she had just witnessed, which was actually inexplicable, under the huge stands of the Jyske Bank Boxen. Xenia Smits, who had been such a strong backcourt player until then, also kept rubbing her red eyes.
The selection of the German Handball Association (DHB) did not start as favorites in this World Cup quarter-final. A narrow defeat would not have been a broken leg; They could have brushed that off and just moved on towards the Olympic qualifying tournament for Paris 2024 and the home World Cup in two years. But these 60 minutes from Herning, as all the players, coaches and even the officials suspected, might linger for a long time. They demand therapy in which these incredible events first have to be processed.
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Because the team suffered a collapse of truly historic proportions at the start of the game. After Mareike Thomaier threw a seven-meter shot at the post, nothing worked in the German attack. Again and again, as the Swedes cleverly shielded the pivot Julia Behnke, the backcourt got stuck with pointless individual actions. And so there was a whole series of unprepared and therefore unsuccessful throwing attempts.
Missed throw by Maren Weigel, lost ball by Behnke, missed throw by Smits, technical error by Bölk, missed throw by Behnke, missed throw by Alina Grijseels, missed throw by Smits, missed throw by Grijseels, missed throw by Smits – that was the chronology of the horror in the initial phase. It took 14:07 minutes for Bölk to refuel and score for the first time. However, Sweden had long been leading 7-0. It was a false start that had not been seen at this level in decades. “We weren’t even there,” complained Grijseels.
The German handball players felt so strong after the first five victories in the two group phases of this World Cup. But already in the 28:30 defeat against hosts Denmark, one of the top favorites, at the end of the main round, the defensive wall was clearly crumbling, and the Danes often only had a quick crossing to make a breakthrough. Against the Swedes, who actually don’t have any outstanding field players in their ranks and were clearly beatable, the defense suddenly appeared completely discouraged. Goalkeeper Katharina Filter, who had previously been brimming with self-confidence (“We are better than ever”), only saved the first of the ten throws that came her way.
What do you think when you look at this disaster as a spectator on the bench? Well, said Viola Leuchter, you try to stay focused somehow. When the extremely gifted left-hander from Leverkusen was allowed onto the field in the 26th minute, she immediately demonstrated why she is considered the greatest promise of German handball players. The 1.85 meter tall half right rose up and threw in from ten meters, which looked effortless. But the game was already over at 6:13. Given the hopeless situation, it was “on the one hand easy and on the other hand difficult” to go onto the field, Leuchter later admitted.
National coach Markus Gaugisch, for whom this is his second major tournament, also seemed perplexed. The 49-year-old, who himself seemed shocked, judged that the team did not produce their normal performance. Since the game seemed to be over at half-time at 6:16, many were expecting something crazy, some tactical surprises to make the opponent think. Something in the style of Dagur Sigurdsson, who at the men’s European Championship 2016 suddenly had the German men’s team covered with two advanced half-backs in a seemingly hopeless situation and thus initiated a fabulous comeback. Gaugisch did nothing of the sort. His only real change was pulling Smits forward in a 5-1 coverage in the 52nd minute.
It doesn’t seem to be a coincidence that Leuchter, the youngest outfield player in the DHB selection at 19, became the best player in the German team. Goalkeeper Sarah Wachter also made strong saves and kept the defeat within limits with an excellent catch rate (42 percent). Both have only been on the team for a short time. It was the 15th international match for Leuchter and the 18th for Wachter. They went into this challenge of the World Cup quarter-finals clearly carefree.
The seasoned players, on the other hand, seemed as if they were being crushed by the negative experiences of the past few years, when the team had also stumbled apathetically into the abyss in knockout games, for example in the 2021 World Cup quarter-finals against Spain. They finally wanted to get rid of this heavy monkey on their shoulders in Herning. Now, however, he presses even harder on the body. “I didn’t have the feeling that we were scared,” said a perplexed Xenia Smits. But clearly the leading players, including Smits, Bölk, Grijseels and Filter, had put so much pressure on themselves that their dream of their first medal since 2007 ended in a historic defeat.
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