This series continued with the tenth consecutive defeat in their comeback after 10 years’ absence from the competition. In Innsbruck, Germany easily beat Ukraine 30:17 and took their 50th victory in their 96th EHF EURO match.
GROUP F
Germany vs Ukraine 30:17 (15:9)
- Germany’s defence was solid almost throughout the whole match, and Ukraine lacked the ideas, skills and power to find the gaps
- goalkeeper Viktoriia Saltaniuk saved 48 per cent of all shots before the break, but Sarah Wachter stood strong between the German posts with 40 per cent saves in 30 minutes
- Germany scored from all positions, despite starting their rotation quite early, and despite missing two top talents: Nieke Kühne is out for the whole tournament with a knee injury and young right back Viola Leuchter was ill
- Ukraine only scored five goals in the first 21 minutes after the break and Germany took their first 10-goal lead at 23:13
- Katharina Filter made 10 saves in the second half (46 per cent) and was awarded Player of the Match, presented by Grundfos with finally ten saves
- the best scorers were Alina Grijseels (six goals for Germany) and Liliia Horilska, one of only two players in the Ukrainian squad with previous EHF EURO experience, who scored four times
Germany take second biggest victory at EHF EUROs
Germany did not only take their 50th victory at EHF EURO final tournament, but almost their biggest ever EHF EURO victory. The record is a 36:22 win against Slovakia in Zagreb at the 2014 event. But in their last duel with Ukraine, the EHF EURO 2024 qualifier in April in Heidelberg, they took an even bigger result, winning 43:21.
On the other hand, Ukraine’s EHF EURO comeback after a 10-year absence ended with disappointment. Their biggest defeat was 24:39 against Yugoslavia 22 years ago in Arhus, now they lost by 13 goals. Mainly their attacking performance needs to improve to have a chance against Iceland on Sunday.
Germany set up everything for the critical match against the Netherlands on Sunday. This duel is expected to decide the top positions in group F.
We have reached all our goals, we played fast, our defence stood strong after the break. As the start of every tournament is something special, we needed some time to find our rhythm, and you never know how Ukraine will play. But we took the upper hand quite quick, showed a strong performance.
I think that our game, our play, was good in first half, but after the break, we made too many mistakes.
