 German coach gives more than a hint for Serbia
The final phase in Germany's preparation for the EHF EURO 2012 will be two test matches against EHF EURO 2010 bronze medallist Romania at home on 24 and 25 November.
On Friday, Danish born German head coach Heine Jensen announced the squad for the matches and the final preparation sessions.
17 players, one more than allowed in the official EHF EURO squad list, have been nominated by Jensen.
Among them is team captain Isabell Klein, who has just made her comeback for Women’s EHF Champions League participant Buxtehuder SV.
Klein was out since March after a cruciate ligament rupture, in the EHF EURO 2012 qualification match in Hungary.
Alongside Klein in the squad is injured Anna Loerper, the only national team member playing for a Danish club with Holstebro.
“Both players are on the up,” Jensen explained when asked about the nominations.
Only nine of the 17 players played in the 2011 World Championship, when Germany ranked just 17th.
As announced previously, the most experienced player, Stefanie Melbeck of Buxtehude, is out for the EHF EURO due to an injury.
A “new old face” in the German squad is Susann Müller (Krim Ljubljana), who had not been nominated by a German head coach since the EHF EURO 2010 in Denmark and Norway, when Germany missed out the Main Round for the first time ever.
Besides Loerper and Müller, two more nominees play abroad. Goalkeeper Clara Woltering from 2012 EHF Champions League winner Buducnost Podgorica and Angie Geschke from Norwegian side Vipers Kristiansand.
The youngest players in Jensen’s squad are former junior world champion Kim Naidzinavicius and Marlene Zapf, both playing for EHF Cup participant Bayer Leverkusen.
These 17 players are more than likely to make up the EHF EURO squad, depending on injuries such as Thüringer HC’s Nadja Nadgornaja, who is currently out of action.
After two weak performances at major tournaments, Jensen is humble before the EHF EURO in Serbia, where his team will face Olympic bronze medallist Spain, Olympic participant Croatia and, just like in the qualification, Hungary in the preliminary round in Novi Sad.
“From a realistic point of view we are no favourite in Serbia, but we have shown in previous matches that we can beat top teams.
“We only lack stability currently. But I believe that we have an interesting squad which should give us a huge number of options,” Jensen was quoted on the German Handball Federation website http://dhb.de/.
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The German squad for the final EHF EURO test matches against Romania:
Goalkeeper: Katja Schülke (HC Leipzig), Clara Woltering (Buducnost Podgorica/MNE)
Right wing: Marlene Zapf (TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Friederike Lütz (Buxtehuder SV), Anne Hubinger (HC Leipzig)
Right back: Susann Müller (RK Krim Ljubljana/SLO), Isabell Klein (Buxtehuder SV)
Centre back: Kim Naidzinavicius (TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Anna Loerper (Team Tvis Holstebro/DEN), Kerstin Wohlbold (Thüringer HC)
Left back: Nadja Nadgornaja (Thüringer HC), Laura Steinbach (TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Saskia Lang (HC Leipzig)
Left wing: Angie Geschke (Vag Vipers Kristiansand/NOR), Natalie Augsburg (HC Leipzig)
Line player: Anne Müller (HC Leipzig), Anja Althaus (Thüringer HC)
Reserve: Jana Krause (Buxtehuder SV), Christine Beier (Frankfurter HC), Franziska Mietzner (Frankfurter HC), Lone Fischer (Buxtehuder SV), Luisa Schulze (HC Leipzig)
TEXT: Björn Pazen / cor
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