The Bundesliga handball club Thüringer HC suffered a serious setback in the group stage of the European League. The team of Head Coach Herbert Müller unexpectedly lost by a clear margin of 25:38 (12:20) at top Norwegian club Larvik HK. Johanna Reichert was the best THC scorer with ten goals.
After their second defeat in their fifth game, the Thuringians slipped to third place in Group A for the time being, as the Norwegians also won the head-to-head tie. THC had beaten Larvik 43:35 in the first leg. To be sure of a place in the quarter-finals, the Bundesliga bronze medallists need a home win against outsiders Elche in their final group game next Saturday and must also hope that Larvik lose at leaders Braila.
Not much came together in the THC's play
The club from Thuringia missed the opening spell and quickly trailed 2:7 (8th minute). Even an early timeout by Müller did not improve matters at first. The visitors conceded many unnecessary turnovers in attack and were hopelessly overstretched in defense by the high tempo of the Norwegians. Larvik pulled 12:4 ahead by the 13th minute. The THC then developed more penetration in offense, but continued to show weaknesses in pulling back, with the result that the hosts defended their eight-goal lead until the break.
In the second half, little changed in the course of the game. The THC had to work much harder to score than the Norwegians, who continued to shine with their high efficiency on the break. Larvik stretched its lead to 32:19 (45') with a 7:2 run and also fended off all efforts by the Thuringians to secure the head-to-head tie.
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