Márta Kállai
Germany – Montenegro 27:20 (14:9)
Everything was clear for Montenegro in the tournament, as coach Dragan Adzic´s team has already been qualified for the semi-final after Spain versus Russia ended as a draw.
With this in mind it was Germany who fired in all cylinders and taking the lead by two-three goals.
Montenegro´s defense didn´t stand well in the early phase, but improved and so Milena Knezevic and Co. closed the gap to 7:6, when Jovanka Radicevic failed on the seven metre line to level the match.
Germany remained in lead thanks to their distance shots and excellent saves by goalkeeper Clara Woltering between the sticks.
On the Montenegrin side it was Ana Dokic who kept their hopes high, but the fully focused Germans used every opportunity to score and so coach Heine Jensen´s team remained in plus 5 goals lead after 30 minutes.
Strong Germany were able to maintain this massive lead throughout the second half thanks to amazing shots by Laura Steinbach and Anne Hubinger.
Montenegro woke up after 42 minutes and started a catch-up phase with some of their bench players closing the gap to three goals only (17:20) – this resulted in Heine Jensen putting his green card to the table.
Jensen calmed down his players and gave them the right instructions for the final phase. With calmness and cleverness his side demolished Montenegro, Steinbach and young prospect left-handed Anne Hubinger scored from distance building out the German lead to five goals again.
For the dying minutes Montenegro gave up the fight and Germany celebrated a massive victory which still gives them hope and chance to qualify for the semi-final.
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