Stuttgart scrape opening win: Strong defence of Stuttgart, van der Merwe keeps BHC alive

In front of their own supporters at Porsche-Arena, TVB lived up to their billing as favourites without ever shining. After a shaky start in which the visitors led 0:2 early on, Stuttgart turned the match around through their defence and pulled away to 13:10 by half-time. That three-goal cushion would prove to be exactly the buffer that mattered in the end.

The decisive phase came shortly before the interval: whilst TVB stabilised their defence after an open first quarter of an hour, BHC went several minutes without scoring and became increasingly bogged down in individual actions. The meagre return of just ten goals by half-time was a deficit the visitors could not make up despite a much improved second half.

For the hosts, Häfner was the most prominent attacker with seven goals, even though he uncharacteristically lost his composure from the seven-metre line. Important stability came from goalkeeper Mohamed Essam Moustafa El-Tayar, who became a factor with six saves and a crucial intervention in the closing stages. For BHC, Kristian van der Merwe stood out: the keeper made seven saves in total, including three against Häfner from the seven-metre line, and kept his side within touching distance for almost the entire match. In attack, Fynn Hangstein was the visitors' top scorer with seven goals.

Before half-time, Philipp Meyer summed up the favourites' approach: "We could score a few more goals up front. At the back it's really solid, we're forcing good chances."

In the second half, Stuttgart extended their lead to four at times, but never pulled decisively clear. BHC clung to Sören Steinhaus. Van der Merwe kept the visitors in the contest with his saves, whilst Häfner was repeatedly frustrated by him from the spot.

The closing stages remained tight: BHC repeatedly cut the gap to two goals, but Stuttgart had the crucial answers. Mohamed Amine Darmoul rounded off the scoring with the 30th goal, before Becher struck for the final 30:29 scoreline.

Steinhaus drew a sober conclusion after the match: "When we get within one goal, we fall back to three or four again. We're simply still too naive in some situations."
At the same time, he highlighted the performance against one of the league's strongest attacking sides in one-on-one situations: "We get into loads of help situations and loads of stop fouls, which repeatedly gives us the opportunity to disrupt their attack."

Both teams are back in action as early as next Wednesday, 2 September 2026: Stuttgart travel to Handball Club Hamburg at 7:00pm, whilst BHC host SG Flensburg-Handewitt at the same time at 8:00pm.