World Cup opener for the handball ladies

The turn of the year is traditionally the time of the big tournaments in handball. In December, it’s usually the women’s turn first, before the men kick off in January. For the women, the World Championship in Spain is on the agenda this year. Germany will not arrive without ambitions, but is rather a big underdog in the fight for the medals.

First of all, it is important to look from round to round. For the first time, 32 teams are taking part, divided into eight groups of four. Germany will meet the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The first three teams will advance to the main round, where they will take the points they earned against the opponents who also advance.

That’s as far as you should think for now. The team of national coach Henk Groener will meet the Czech Republic in Lliria to start the tournament.

Interesting is that in Spain spectators are allowed under a 2G-regulation, which by the way also applies to players and staff. All matches will be streamed by Sportdeutschland.tv. So let’s hope that the World Cup opener will be a success for Henk Groener and his ladies and that we will get our first World Cup win between Germany and the Czech Republic by betting on a German victory.

Germany – Statistics & current form

Secret favourite would be too much of a good thing, but Germany have a good chance of going far at the World Cup in Spain. With Emily Bölk, Dinah Eckerle, Meike Schmelzer and Alicia Stolle, four women are under contract with top foreign clubs and have made a great leap forward in their development. If the four legionnaires manage to take the leading roles, then at least the preliminary round should not be a big problem for now.

Strong preparation

Germany has made a big leap recently. The results in the immediate preparation are encouraging that they can make a splash at the World Cup. At the beginning of November, they even won a test match against the Olympic silver medallists from Russia. All in all, the team has only lost one of its last eight international matches.

But this defeat came in the dress rehearsal against the strong Spaniards, who are highly regarded as hosts and runners-up at the World Cup. At the four-nation tournament, they first won against Poland and their World Cup group opponents Slovakia before losing to the Spanish team 22-23.

If Henk Groener now manages to conserve the form of the last games at the World Cup, then the odds have to be on a success for the DHB ladies in the duel between Germany and the Czech Republic. There is quite a bit to suggest that it could even be a relatively clear victory with a handicap

The squad of Germany:
Goal: Eckerle, Filter
Back: Grijseels, Petersen, Zschocke, Smits, Bölk, Kalf, Stolle
Left wing: Lauenroth, Stockschläder
Right wing: Maidhof, Berger
Circle: Schmelzer, Antl, Schulze
Coach: Groener

Czech Republic – Statistics & current form

The Czechs are in the process of forming a new women’s team. Therefore, they are happy to be at the start of the World Cup with 32 teams. However, they also know that this team will probably need two to three years before they are a bit more competitive. Therefore, coach Jan Basny has clearly defined the goal in this first group phase.

Difficult preparation

Germany and Hungary are to be annoyed in the first two games and maybe they can even take a point. The big focus, however, is on the neighbourly duel on the last matchday against Slovakia. There it will probably be decided who will take third place in the group and travel to Granollers for the main round.

The preparation of the Czech team was mixed. They had no chance against Olympic champions France in October, but did well against Croatia in a narrow defeat. Bitterly, they even lost out to a B team from Norway last week.

At least they managed a win against Iceland. However, the Icelanders are not qualified for the World Cup. This means that they have lost four of their last five international matches. That is a record that can definitely be improved and basically does not allow for a prediction of a German defeat in the match between Germany and the Czech Republic, especially as two interesting players, Jana Sustkova (injured) and Petra Manakova (not vaccinated), will be missing.

The Czech squad:
Goal: Rezacova, Muckova, Kudlackova
Back: Mikulaskova, Frankova, Kordovska, Jerabkova, Cholevova, Kasparkova, Polaskova, Hurychova, Kovarova
Left wing: Striskova, Mala
Right wing: Knedlikova, Zachova
Circle: Andryskova, Holanova
Coach: Basny

Germany – Czech Republic Direct Comparison / H2H-Balance

In the last ten years, the national teams from Germany and the Czech Republic have only faced each other in four matches. The German handball ladies have won the last three games, before that there was a success for the Czech selection. The last encounter was in December 2018, almost exactly three years ago.

Germany and the Czech Republic met in the preliminary round at the European Championship in France. The German team won 30:28. Meike Schmelzer was outstanding, as she alone was responsible for seven goals. Germany advanced to the main round, the Czech Republic was eliminated – a scenario that is not unlikely to happen at the World Cup.

Germany – Czech Republic tip

An opening match at a major tournament is always associated with a lot of nervousness and uncertainty. Of course, you’ve played a few preparatory games, but when things get really serious, you have to deliver your performance. The bookmakers tested have more confidence in the German team. The odds on a German victory are very low.

This is mainly due to the fact that Henk Groener’s team did well in the test matches and prevailed against Russia. There was only a narrow defeat against Spain. Maybe the German ladies will be the surprise of this World Cup. In any case, a bet on a clear German victory in the opening match between Germany and the Czech Republic should be a good choice.

If the top players perform to their potential, a win against the Czech Republic might be a wave that carries you through the tournament. We think that this wave should at least be enough for the preliminary round and then we’ll see. In any case, we decided to play the betting odds on a German handicap win (-4.5) between Germany and the Czech Republic.