2024-07-26 21:59:29
[PARiS 2024] World Championship 22nd place, 6th place defeated ‘Blue’
Kangho wins first match against Germany by 1 point… 4 goals behind in second half but eventually turns it around
Swedish coach’s ‘extreme tactics’… Everyone except the goalkeeper ‘shuts down’ when attacking
Quickly replace during defense, guard the goal
Women’s handball, the only team sport in Korea to qualify for the Paris Olympics, successfully opened the first act of the drama ‘Paris version Woosungsoon (Our Best Moment in Life)’. ‘Woosungsoon’ is a film based on the women’s handball final of the 2004 Athens Games, where Korea came in second place after a fierce match that will be remembered in Olympic history. At the time, after a 19-game tie with Denmark, overtime and re-overtime were played, and the winner was still not determined, so a penalty shootout was used to decide the medal color.
Korea won 23-22 against Germany in the first match of Group A of the Paris Olympics women’s handball group stage on the 25th, and is off to a smooth start toward its goal of advancing to the quarterfinals. Twelve countries are participating in this women’s handball competition. They are divided into two groups of six teams each and play group matches, with the top four from each group advancing to the quarterfinals.
On this day, few expected Korea to win. It was literally an ‘upset’. Ahead of the match between the two teams, the British betting site ‘bet365’ had a 7.1% chance of Korea winning. The International Handball Federation (IHF) reported the results of the match, saying, “Korea shocked Germany.” The Korean women’s handball team was a world-class team that had advanced to the semifinals of the Olympics eight consecutive times up until the 2012 London Games, winning two gold medals, three silver medals, and one bronze medal. But not now. Korea ranked 22nd out of 32 countries at the World Championships in December last year. Germany ranked 6th at the same competition. Korea is the only team among the 12 countries participating in the Paris Olympics that did not make it into the top 20 at the World Championships last year.
The average height of the German players that Korea faced was 177.6cm, which was about 5cm taller than Korea (average 172.9cm). Korea responded with quick feet and a defense that involved throwing their bodies. Korea women’s handball team coach Henrik Signell (Sweden, pictured) called the German players “big and tall.” The game was a close match with 13 ties. Korea finished the first half ahead 11-10. The seesaw game continued at 14-14 until 10 minutes into the second half. From then on, Korea gave up 4 goals in a row, widening the score gap to 14-18. The situation seemed to be turning over to Germany. However, Korea scored 3 goals in a row to catch up again. In the 23rd minute of the second half, Kim Da-young scored to turn the score around 20-19. After that, Korea did not give up the lead and finished with a one-point victory. Coach Signel said after the game, “The German players have good physical strength, so it was difficult to break through them, but in terms of defense, it was the best game we’ve ever played.”
The ’empty goal’ that coach Signel used in the second half also hit the mark. When the score gap widened in the middle of the second half, coach Signel adopted the empty goal tactic. When attacking, he called the goalkeeper to the bench and sent in a field player instead to gain a numerical advantage in the attack. When switching from attack to defense, the goalkeeper quickly ran back in and one field player came out. Kang Kyung-min, who scored 6 goals and 9 assists that day, said, “I thought it would be difficult if the score gap widened further, but the coach’s strategy worked.” Ryu Eun-hee (34), the oldest member of the national team and the only European league player, also scored 6 goals and 10 assists that day to help lead the team to victory. Along with Kang Kyung-min, she is the team’s top scorer. Ryu Eun-hee played the match against Germany with a finger ligament injury, and Kang Kyung-min with an ankle injury. Ryu Eun-hee was the only Korean player to be named among the 10 male and female players to watch at the Paris Olympics selected by the IHF.
Korea will play its second group match against Slovenia on the 28th. Slovenia is a team that beat Korea by 4 goals in last year’s World Championship, but is a relatively weak team in Group A. Slovenia lost to Denmark 19-27 in its first group match on this day. Coach Signel said of the Slovenia match, “It will be a war-like match. We will prepare with a humble attitude again.”
Paris = Reporter Kim Bae-joong [email protected]
Paris = Reporter Im Bo-mi [email protected]
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2024-07-26 21:59:29