The German team had an unfortunate day against Austria – and now has to worry about progressing.
The German national handball team is about to be eliminated from the home European Championships: In the second game of the main round on Saturday evening there was an unfortunate 22:22 (11:12) against Austria.
In front of 19,750 fans in Cologne, Juri Knorr, in his 50th appearance in the DHB jersey, was the best thrower of the German team with six goals, which acted erratically and incorrectly.
With 3:3 points, the DHB team only takes fourth place in Group I. Behind Olympic champion France (6:0), who beat Iceland 39:32, are Austria and Hungary (4:2 each). The Magyars, the next opponent of the DHB selection on Monday, defeated Croatia 29:26. The first two in the group reach the semi-finals. You can find the current German table here.
This is how the game went:
Under the eyes of almost all of the 1978 world champions around jubilee Joachim Deckarm, to whom the spectators gave a special serenade before kick-off one day after his 70th birthday, the previously convincing director Knorr initially just sat on the bench. “He was a little ill before the last game,” said Gislason, explaining the move.
Philipp Weber from Champions League winner SC Magdeburg moved into the starting line-up for Knorr. But without their top playmaker from cup winners Rhein-Neckar Löwen, the DHB selection struggled from the start.
Luckily, goalkeeper Andreas Wolff was immediately up to speed in his 150th international match, as was the case in the 26:24 shaky win against Iceland. With his saves, the 32-year-old ensured that the Austrians were initially unable to pull away despite the proliferation of opportunities and numerous technical errors by the DHB team.
But Constantin Möstl in the Austrian goal was also in top form and caused the German players to despair. In the middle of the first half, the European Championship hosts were down by two goals at 4:6 – and Gislason sent Knorr to the floor.
“We have to finish more confidently”
“A defeat against Austria – and the dream of the semi-finals would be over,” the national coach warned before the game and predicted a difficult task. He was proven right, because the outsider played carefree and extended the lead to four goals for the first time at 10:6.
Only in the final phase of the first half did the German team act a little more consistently in attack, in which Knorr played a part. The deficit was only one goal after the first 30 minutes. “We have to finish more confidently,” demanded DHB sports director Axel Kromer during the half-time break.
Heiner Brand became even clearer on ARD. “What we showed in attack wasn’t actually possible. That was so bad,” criticized the 2007 world champion coach.
Austria’s goalkeeper Möstl was not given any difficult tasks
But the error festival continued after the change. The German players repeatedly failed because of Austria’s goalkeeper Möstl, but they didn’t make things too difficult for him with many unplaced throws.
In the middle of the second half, Gislason’s protégés were once again behind by four goals at 16:20. Driven by the audience, Knorr and Co. fought their way back in the final phase and actually managed to equalize.