Handball player Smits on her World Cup winning goal: "Shouted in"
Handball player Xenia Smits helped the DHB team to a last-second victory thanks to the loud cheering of teammate Julia Behnke.
"Jule practically shouted the ball in," the backcourt player reported after the nail-biting 31:30 win against Japan and said of the hectic final seconds: "The ball was still somewhere on the right wing after the foul, so I went and grabbed it quickly and passed it to Jule, who passed it back to me. Then it had to go straight at goal."
After the opening victory against the self-sacrificing Asians, national coach Markus Gaugisch's team can already seal their place in the main round on Saturday. In the second match in Group F, co-captain Alina Grijseels' team will face outsiders Iran at 18:00 (Sportdeutschland.tv). On Monday, they will then face their supposedly strongest group opponents, Poland.
If the DHB team wants to achieve its minimum goal of reaching the quarter-finals, the coordination in defense in particular must improve significantly. 30 goals conceded against Japan were too many. "But we're not too worried about that. We coped with the nimble handball style of the Japanese," said co-captain Emily Bölk.
Xenia Smits' stellar performance with the Women's National Handball team was instrumental in securing their World Cup (WM) victory. In the upcoming WM matches, the team's cohesion in defense will be crucial to maintain their progress, especially against Poland.
Source: www.dpa.com
