DHB stars convince against Hungary – semi-final?

With the win against Hungary, the dream of the semi-finals at the home European Championships lives on for the DHB team. They impressed with an unexpected amount of self-confidence.

Nils Kögler reports from Cologne

“We know what we can do”: It was a sentence that DHB goalkeeper David Späth repeated several times in the interview zone after winning the third main round game against Hungary at the home European Championship. It is a sentence that describes the performance of the German team only too well.

After the disappointing draw against Austria, the German team managed a clear 35:28 win against Hungary. Due to Austria’s previous defeat against France, the team now has its fate in its own hands again. The dream of the semi-final is alive. A win against Croatia is enough to fulfill it. The key to this was a performance full of self-confidence.

But despite the clear victory at the end, the German team did not deliver a world-class performance over the full 60 minutes. On the contrary: At the beginning of the game, the supporters of the DHB selection must have had an uneasy feeling. Offensively, national coach Alfred Gíslason’s team initially seemed to be picking up on the old problems from the games against Iceland and Austria. The team missed several good chances in the first few minutes, for example through Rune Dahmke and Johannes Golla.

In addition, the defense no longer seemed as solid as in previous games. The Germans initially had no access to the Hungarians’ powerful throws from the backcourt. It was also crucial that even the previously outstanding Andreas Wolff in the German goal, who had recently kept the team in the game, didn’t get off to a good start against Hungary. He didn’t record a single save the entire first half.

The young David Späth, who replaced Wolff in the middle to end of the first half, was only able to parry one ball. “We were often on the ball, but they still went in,” he analyzed after the game. “That’s why it was just unfortunate for us,” continued Späth. “There are games like that. Of course some people are annoyed, but the main thing is that we won,” the keeper concluded pragmatically. “We’ll be a little annoyed and then we’ll move on from tomorrow.”

A shaky offense, a defense with problems and goalkeepers who, for once, cannot save the team: This is how the DHB team had to chase a one-goal deficit for most of the first half.

But despite the initial difficulties, the team did not lose heart and continued to run confidently. “We know what we can do,” was Späth’s favorite sentence that evening. “We created good chances against Austria, but unfortunately we failed due to our effectiveness. That’s why we were always very optimistic. We were full of confidence.”

Christoph Steinert took a similar approach. “Self-confidence was the biggest difference,” he said, analyzing the improvement compared to the Austria game. “No matter whether there was a mistake or a shot went wrong, the boys kept shooting. That was really nice to see.”

One person who particularly “balled” in the first half was Sebastian Heymann. In contrast to the previous games, he was given more playing time on the offensive against Hungary and repaid this with four goals from four throws in the first half. “Today, everyone who was given the opportunity to throw the ball took it with full conviction, was convinced that they could throw the ball into the net, and if necessary, also throw the goalkeeper into the goal,” he praised the Germans’ self-confidence Team.