Pure joy: The German U21 handball players around Florian Kranzmann, Max Beneke, Moritz Sauter and Nils Lichtlein (from left) storm into the final at the home World Cup. After 2009 and 2011, Germany is chasing its third World Cup title Photo: Marco Wolf/wolf-sportfoto/dpa
By Malte Achilles
FINAL! Germany’s U21s celebrate their seventh win in the seventh game of the home World Cup – 40:30 in the semifinals against Serbia!
The team of national coach Martin Heuberger (59) will play for gold on Sunday (6 p.m., Eurosport). Opponent in Berlin is Hungary, who won their semi-final 37:30 against Iceland.
Now get the title boys! It would be the third after 2009 and 2011…
Lasse Ludwig surprisingly starts in goal against the Serbs. In his home game in front of 5206 fans, the goalkeeper from the foxes almost single-handedly ensured the 17:15 break lead. Evidence: nine saves, 38 percent saved balls.
And in attack, Captain Renars Uscins leads the DHB selection towards the final with a total of nine goals. Even when the Germans threw away a five-goal lead (10:5/17) within nine minutes (13:13/26), our boys stayed cool.
After the break, Ludwig only gets a few balls. never mind Substitute Florian Kranzmann scored four of Germany’s first six goals in the second half, scoring a total of eight times.
In the end, fans and team celebrate the first final in twelve years. Back then there was gold with a 27:18 win against Denmark. And this time?