Germany lived up to its position as the favorite at the Fistball World Cup in Mannheim and defeated Switzerland in the top game in Group A.
The German national fistball team showed no weaknesses in the second group match of the Fistball World Cup in Mannheim. Coach Olaf Neuenfeld’s team won 3-0 (11-9, 11-4, 11-3) against Switzerland and made it clear that they didn’t want to be stopped on their way to their 13th World Cup title.
The Swiss were able to keep up quite well in the first set. At first it seemed that the Germans would march ahead in a similarly sovereign manner as in the opening win on Saturday against Namibia. However, they gambled away a temporary five-point lead and made it exciting again at a score of 9:9. But attacker Patrick Thomas made the decisive point to win the set.
Patrick Thomas is the top scorer
In the second set, the Swiss lost their nerve too often. The Germans benefited from the service and return mistakes, quickly taking a clear lead and then not giving up this lead anymore. Once again it was Patrick Thomas who showed the spectators in the Rhein-Neckar Stadium why the record world champion is one of the favorites at the home World Cup.
The Swiss didn’t find a suitable means against the 1.99 meter power pack in the third and last set either. Thomas, who can accelerate the ball to around 140 km/h with his fist, made point after point after point. However, someone else made the last one: Johannes Jungclaussen converted the match point to 11:3 and made Germany the winner after about 48 minutes. In the last group game, Germany will score on Monday (from 10 a.m. live on SWR Sport) on Italy.
Germany is the clear favorite for the title
While the first and second place finishers from Groups A and B qualify directly for the quarterfinals, the first and second place finishers from Groups C and D will play the third and fourth place finishers from Groups A and B to qualify for the quarterfinals. The losers of the quarter-final qualification and the other teams in groups C and D then compete in the so-called President’s Cup and play eleventh to 16th place among themselves. The other teams fight for the title. However, Germany is already the group winner with four points from two games.
Germany is not only the clear favorite for the title at the World Cup tournament because of the home advantage: in the 15 previous World Cups since 1968, the German team has won gold twelve times. In the absence of a national professional association, Neuenfeld’s team still runs for the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB). Fistball is played seriously primarily in German-speaking countries or by descendants of German emigrants in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Namibia and Australia.
