The “test second leg” of the German national handball team against Croatia ended with another sense of success. In Hanover, the DHB team narrowly prevailed.
The last European Championship test should give the German national handball team a lot of self-confidence with a view to the European Handball Championship starting next week (January 15th to February 1st in Denmark, Sweden and Norway). In the second test match against Croatia, coach Alfred Gislason’s team won 33:27 (16:12) after an impressive performance in Hanover. The team’s top scorers were Lukas Zerbe and Renars Uscins with five goals each.
Three days earlier in Zagreb, the German Handball Federation (DHB) team had already won 32:29 in Zagreb.
“The most important thing is the win. There are always a few weaker phases, so we’ve gotten out of them. But the result gives us a good feeling. But there’s still something to optimize, so we’ll take care of it.”said backcourt player Julian Köster to ARD.
In four days the German team will start their first group game against Austria, before duels with Serbia on Saturday and against Spain on Monday evening. A tough group that doesn’t give you time to get used to it. However, important work still remains for the national coach, who still has to reduce the European Championship squad from the current 18 to 16 players.
Wolff starts in the German goal
The German team pushed the pace from the start. A tactical route that also applies throughout the European Championship games and should bring success. After six minutes the DHB team led 3-1. And it started with Andreas Wolff in the German goal, who had to make way for David Späth and who excelled twice right from the start.
However, the German players did not maintain their throwing efficiency, they made a few missed throws and were denied by goalkeeper Matej Mandic. It was a game of equals in which neither team was initially able to pull away.
Strong defensive performance
After 16 minutes, the German team was leading 9:7 because the defense was increasingly aggressive, concentrated and well-organized and made it extremely difficult for the Croatians to finish. And if a throw did get through, Wolff did the rest and parried several times against the Croatian shooters.
The Croats became more and more impatient and increasingly found themselves stuck against the German defensive bulwark. And in attack? There, Justus Fischer, Uscins and Mertens coldly converted their chances to score. The lead grew to 14:10 after 28 minutes, and at the break the enthusiastic DHB team was ahead 16:12.
“It feels good, good defense. We’re calm up front and doing what we set out to do.”said Mertens in a half-time interview with ARD.
Short phase of weakness
But the second half started anything but as desired. Within two minutes and ten seconds, Croatia coach Dagur Sigurdsson’s team, 2016 European champions with Germany, scored three times and reduced the score to 16:15.
But the German players quickly recovered after this short period of weakness and significantly reduced their technical errors. After 45 minutes, the DHB team was leading 22:19. It was a unified team performance that gives hope for the big tournament tasks ahead.
Germany keeps concentration high
The Croatians’ frustration increased because they couldn’t cope with the German team’s powerful defense. And because Wolff was able to parry shots again and again. After 51 minutes it was 26:23 for the German team.
The Sigurdsson team increasingly lost focus and concentration. The German team, on the other hand, did not let up, ran three counterattacks in a row after intercepting three balls and increased the lead to 29:24. In the end there was a well-deserved 33:27 victory.