Preview on the semi Korea vs. Germany

10 Jul. 2014

Preview on the semi Korea vs. Germany

Asian speed on the own hand, European power and defence skills on the other: When Korea will face Germany in the second semi-final of the Women’s Junior World Championship in Croatia on Friday in Koprivnica (20:45 hrs. local times, live stream on www.ihf.info), the styles of playing could not be more different.

Korea count on a highly offensive and movable 3:3 defence, which caused problems to all of their competitors by now and which is the base for their fast break match play. Despite their disadvantages of height the back court shooters of the Asian champions managed to get through the defences sides like a knife through warm butter - proved in a brilliant way when beating Romania in the quarter-finals in a clear way (36:27).

On the other hand, Germany are the biggest surprise of the tournament. The current team missed the qualification for the 2012 Youth World Championship and ranked only on tenth position of the 2013 European championship - and now they fight for the medals after the most thrilling quarter-final: In the last second the Germans secured their semi-final spot by beating Hungary 20:19. “It was simply incredible. It took some time until I had realized what we had managed,” said German head coach Thorsten Schmid


Both semi-finallists have the same balance of six victories and one defeat by now. Germany lost their preliminary match against Denmark, Korea were beaten by Czech Republic in the first stage of the competition. By looking upon the statistics, Korea have the better attack (251 goals scored compared to 192), but the Germans can count on the better defence (155:187). And this number is also an indicator for the strong goalkeeping of the Germans. Dinah Eckerle tops the overall goalkeeper ranking by 95 saves, Korean goalkeeper Saeyoung Park saved 80 shots by now. The top scorers of both sides are highly close in the ranking: Hyojin Lee scored 44 times for Korea, Xenia Smits 42 times for the Germans.

“Our team is doing really well by now. It was our goal to make it to the semi-finals after our sixth position at the 2012 Junior World Championship,” said Han Jung Kyu, President of the Korean Handball Federation, adding: “Our head coach changed a lot of players and integrated some younger ones. And he did a great job in terms of tactics. We are all very proud of this team. It seems they have a simply unbeatable physical fitness at the moment. I believe, it will not be easy for Germany to beat us, though we have great respect for their team,” Han Jung Kyu said.

German head coach Thorsten Schmid expects a tough match: “We have to adapt on the defence system Korea play, this is the key for everything. We again want to show a great fight, like we did in all our previous matches. Currently it is the character, the moral and the determination which makes us so strong. I am absolutely proud to have players like those in our squad. We really have deserved to be in the semi-finals, as my players are fully focused on this tournament since more than two weeks.”

Both semi-finallists have won their respective last medals at Women’s Junior World Championships in FYR Macedonia in 2008, when Korea took bronze and Germany finished on the top of the podium, winning their one and only title in this age category after beating Denmark in the final.

In total, the Koreans have won seven medals at Women’s Junior World Championships - three times silver (19985, 1989, 1991) and four times bronze (1983, 1993, 2005, 2008) - but never won the title. Germany (including former West and East Germany) was bronze medallist in 1981, 1987 and 2001 and silver medallist in this age category in 1983.