Women's handballers off to Blomberg in DHB-Pokal

2022-11-30 09:15 AM by Borussia Dortmund–  2m read

After winning their top match against TuS Metzingen in the Bundesliga on Sunday, the Borussia Dortmund women's handball team are now gearing up for their DHB-Pokal last 16 tie on Wednesday (30/11). New coach Henk Groener's side are away to HSG Blomberg-Lippe.

Only three days after his successful dugout debut as Borussia's head coach, Henk Groener and his team are in action again – this time in the DHB-Pokal round of 16. HSG Blomberg-Lippe are widely regarded as highly unpleasant opponents. When the two teams last went head-to-head in April, BVB narrowly lost the match. Their clashes with champions Bietigheim aside, it was their first defeat on the domestic stage in more than two years.

Tomorrow's opponents have made a solid start to the new season and are only two points behind BVB, with a tally of 8:4 points. "I think they have a young and committed team with a robust defence and quick players going forward," warned Groener, who was by and large highly satisfied with the performance against Metzingen. "We must acknowledge that we only had one real training session beforehand. So it wasn't to be expected that it would consistently go smoothly throughout the 60 minutes. At times, we made simple errors and a little bit of uncertainty crept in."

He was particularly happy with the reaction from his players in the final phase, especially after such a long break. "It was all in order. The team showed character at the back. But I would like us to become more stable in defence and not to always needed to score 30 goals in order to win," revealed the Dutchman. However, he also admitted that preparations had been rendered tougher by the fact that it was not clear which line-up the opponent would take to the court with.

Among the absentees for the opposition is former Dortmund player Marie Michalczik, who sustained a finger injury in the run-up to the European Championships and missed the tournament. There is also a question mark over the involvement of Nele Franz, the 2020/21 Player of the Season. Those not able to attend the match can live-stream it free of charge via Sportdeutschland.tv. The game will start at 19:00 CET.

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