2. Semifinal in Ohrid
Germany – Denmark 26:24 (10:10)
The match between Germany and
Denmark was the expected tough fight between two equal competitors. Finally
Germany was the better team, because of an excellent second half, won with
26:24 and will go for gold on Sunday against Romania, while Denmark will face
Montenegro for the bronze medal.
After their impressive
performance against Korea in their quarter-final, the German team had
difficulties to come into this match. The match was nearly six minutes old when
the German girls scored for the first time against a hard working Danish
defense line. At that time Denmark was already 2:0 ahead and thus had the
better start. But also the German team showed a tough defense, so that it was
only poor scoring on both sides. Only a two-minute-suspension for the German
team gave the Danes the chance to extend a lead of three goals (7:4) after 16
minutes. The German team needed nine minutes to recover from this residue, but
finally it was Emily Bölk, the German top-scorer all over this tournament, who
set the ball right into the net for a 9:9 draw. The match was a hard fight and
it did not bring up the brilliance the teams had shown in the matches before.
And because both teams did not score during the last four minutes the first
half ended at 10:10.
Coming back on court for the
second half Germany directly scored for their first lead in this semi-final
(11:10). Again Emily Bölk extended this lead to 13:11 (36.) with a penalty. It
was the best period of the German team and they rewarded themselves with a
four-goal lead (15:11) after 39 minutes. Especially the German goalkeeper
Jessica Jochims played a keyrole by showing several saves and forced the Danish
coach Gleming Larsen to take an early team time-out. It did not help: after 42
minutes the German scored for their first five-goal lead (17:12). And although
Denmark tried a lot to reduce the gap, the Germans defended the lead until the
final stages of this match (22:16, 51.). Then Denmark started a catching up and
six minutes before the final whistle the Scandinavians were only three goals
behind (23:20). But Germany, with all their self-confidence, stroke back and
they were in lead with five goals when only four minutes were left. And when
German right wing Josephine Korner scored for 26:22 with two minutes to go, the
match was decided. After that the German players were starting their party
while Denmark mourned.