The ‘Guerreras’ play it heads or tails
The women’s handball team must beat Germany to advance to the European Main Round
MADRID, 8 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish women’s handball team is forced to attend their last duel of the group stage of the European Championship that is being played in Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro, since only victory is worth this Thursday (8:30 p.m./Teledeporte) against Germany to move on to the next phase.
It has not been the desired start for the national team, which is on the brink of elimination, although it still has its options intact if it complies and prevails over the Germans, who are also at risk of passing. The defeats against Montenegro (30-23) and against Poland (21-22) have left the ‘Guerreras’ on the ropes, who in order to pass with points must win by one or two goals and the Poles must lose.
The third and last game comes 48 hours after the hard blow, especially emotionally, suffered against the Poles. With the match controlled theoretically (20-16), Spain suffered an offensive short circuit and their rival knew how to take advantage of it to snatch the victory. Forgetting this setback and how it happened would have been one of the main tasks for José Ignacio Prades to face Germany.
Spain improved its defensive performance compared to its debut last Saturday against Montenegro with an intensity from which it will also have had to recover and that could take its toll against Poland in the decisive section.
But the ‘Guerreras’ not only need to be solid at the back but also increase the fluidity of their attack, which has not yet managed to carburize and which committed too many losses in their last game, some of them at key moments. Nicole Wiggins has joined to reinforce a goal that notices the loss of Silvia Navarro and that also has Mercedes Castellanos ‘touched’ muscularly.
Face a Germany that has the reinforcement of having two points from its victory against Poland (25-23) and that even a not very bulky defeat could classify it if the Polish team does it against the host, which it could not stop either (29-25). Spain won 26-21 almost a year ago in the World Cup quarterfinals where they had the most support from the public.
“The defeat against Poland was hard and difficult to assimilate, we always have to think about getting up as soon as possible and making the most of our chances. We have to do the same defensive work that we did against Poland for 50 minutes and for that I congratulate the whole team The defense will be one of the keys and recover the offensive fluidity. You have to trust this group until the end,” Prades stressed in statements provided by the RFEBM.
ALEMANIA: Filter (P), Roch (P), Grijseels, Bölk, Stockschläder, Smits, Antl, Behrend, Hauf, Maidhof, Schmelzer, Petersen, Schirmer, Weiger, Schulze and Zschocke.
SPAIN: Mercedes Castellanos (P), Maddi Aalla (P), Nicole Wiggins (P),Alicia Fernandez, Carmen Fields, Esther Arrojeria, Lara Gonzalez, Shandy Barbosa, Almudena Rodriguez, Irene Espinola, Paula Arcos, Jennifer Gutierrez, Soledad Lopez, Paula Valdivia, Lysa Tchaptchet and Alba Spugnini.
–ÁRBITRAS: Braseth y Sundet (NOR).
–PAVILLION: Moraca Sports Center in Podgorica.
–TIME: 8:30 p.m./Telesport.
