Dutch handball players started the World Cup with a convincing win against Argentina. The score was 41-26 in Frederikshavn, Denmark.
The Dutch team won the world championship for the first time in their history in 2019 and are now looking for that golden form again with the Olympics on the horizon. Because this is what has been missing in recent years: at the 2021 World Cup, the Dutch team did not go further than ninth place, and at last year’s European Championship the team took sixth place.
However, before the championship tournament, Estavana Polman said that there should be a medal again in this World Cup. The experienced player said that the good feelings of four years ago have returned.
National coach Per Johansson will also be able to rely on experienced players such as Lois Abbingh and Tess Lieder, both of whom are mothers, for the tournament to be held in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Yvette Broch also returned to the Dutch team after a 2.5-year break.
chaotic start
The Netherlands got off to a somewhat chaotic start in their first group match against Argentina, which was clearly an underdog on paper. The Argentines, who achieved their best World Cup ranking of 16th in 2019, opened the scoring and hit the post several times. The Dutch defense also had their hands full with the powerful Malena Cavo.
However, the Dutch team managed to make a difference in a short time. Particularly Dione Housheer, Bo van Wetering and Angela Malestein frequently scored accurate goals, so the Netherlands entered the half-hour break with a comfortable lead of 20:14.
Broch immediately scores the goal
Broch remained on the bench in the first half. After the break, the regional player took advantage of his first chance. This seemed to break the spell: the Argentinian could no longer keep up with the high tempo and the Dutch team easily managed to build a fifteen-goal lead.
The comfortable lead gave national coach Johansson the space to give minutes to all his players in the second half. Lieder replaced Yara Ten Holte in goal and 18-year-old Loïs van Vliet immediately scored twice in her first World Cup match.
Estavana Polman was the top scorer with seven goals. Housheer, who was named player of the match, said that the fact that the Argentine women ultimately managed to score 26 goals was still a point to be taken into consideration for the next few matches.
Source: NOS
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
