Netherlands will eye to be back at their best after their loss against France, while Spain aim to maintain the momentum after their win against Germany in the last match of the preliminary round.
Netherlands vs Germany
Friday 11 November, 18:00 CET, live on EHFTV
- only France, Norway and Sweden have conceded less goals in the preliminary round than the Netherlands, 69, while only two qualified teams have scored less goals than Germany’s 71
- six of Netherlands’ players are currently featuring for clubs in the German Bundesliga, while seven others have also played for German clubs at one point in their careers
- the sides have also met in the EHF EURO 2022 Qualifiers, with the Netherlands taking two wins, 31:25 and 30:29, in the first matches for Per Johansson on the Dutch side’s bench
- Germany’s centre back Alina Grijseels is the top scorer of the competition after the preliminary round, with 21 goals; she has a shot efficiency of 65.6%
- the two teams have met six times at the EHF EURO, with each winning three times; most recently in 2020, when Netherlands won 28:27
Netherlands centre back Estavana Polman: “We know now who will be our opponents, so we have to be prepared. Nothing is lost. If we win against all of them, we will progress to the next phase, to the semi-finals, so everything will be good.”
Germany left back Emily Bölk: “We know them so well, we played them so often in the last months and years. It is our clear demand to improve to show a different performance compared to the match against Spain. And if we play as a team, we have a chance.”
Romania vs Spain
Friday 11 November, 20:30 CET, live on EHFTV
- Romania are playing catch-up since they start the main round on zero points, while Spain took two points from the preliminary round – from their win against Germany
- centre back Eliza Buceschi needs only two goals to become only the sixth Romanian player with at least 100 goals scored at the EHF EURO
- from the teams that qualified for the main round, none scored less goals than Spain, 67, and only Hungary had a lower efficiency than Spain’s 55.8%
- Romania’s left back Cristina Neagu is the fourth-best scorer at the EHF EURO 2022 and has a 282-goal tally in the competition
- Romania have won six of the seven games they played against Spain at the EHF EURO, also securing a 25:23 win in October in the Carpathian Trophy friendly tournament played in Romania
Sorina Grozav, Romania left back: “It will be an interesting match, both teams know each other very well. There are many Spain players featuring in the Romanian league, I also play with some of them at my club, so I know how they think and they know us also very well. It will be a balanced game.”
Jose Ignacio Prades, Spain coach: “It is a very well-balanced group, a tough one like all the games we play at the EHF EURO. We have to be happy to start the group with two points, we really want to grow and win some matches here.”
