Handball national coach Alfred Gislason is optimistic about the upcoming World Cup despite some personnel problems. The Icelander wants to confirm the Olympic silver medal from the games in France with the DHB selection at the tournament in Denmark, Norway and Croatia.
Gislason spoke with corresponding confidence about the German preliminary group at a press conference in Hamburg on Saturday. “I rate us as the strongest team, without question. That may sound arrogant, but that’s how it is from my point of view,” said Gislason.
On January 15th (8:30 p.m., live on Erste) the opening opponent in Herning, Denmark will be Poland. Then it’s against Switzerland (January 17th, 8:30 p.m., in the live ticker at sportschau.de) and the Czech Republic (January 19th, 6 p.m., live on Erste). “The first game against Poland is like a final for us,” explained Gislason.
Olympic silver should be confirmed
The best three teams in the group of four reach the main round, which Germany would also complete in Herning. Hosts and defending champions Denmark could wait for the German team there; Germany recently lost to the Danes in the Olympic final in Paris with a score of 26:39. Gislason’s team would also have to get past Denmark in the knockout round to reach the final in Oslo.
DHB sports director Ingo Meckes sees an opportunity for the Gislason team before the start of the tournament. You have “a lot” in your own hands: “Based on how the tournament is going, we have an excellent chance of reaching the quarter-finals, and from then on anything can happen. But then the appropriate opponents are there.”
After winning the Olympic silver medal, Meckes added, the goal is to “confirm what we have achieved. We are all very optimistic about the preparation and then the tournament.” Of course, the dream of participating in the semi-finals is also there for Gislason: “That never changes.”
The Icelander sees one advantage in the fact that a core of regular players has been formed over the past two and a half years. This is slowly ensuring that “the players understand each other blindly”. “You can tell that they get along well with each other and are really happy to be together,” said Gislason in the NDR interview.
DHB team complete from Monday
It is therefore not a big deal for the coach that the Olympic heroes Renars Uscins (TSV Hannover-Bugdorf) and Julian Köster (VfL Gummersbach) were missing for health reasons at the start of preparations on Friday, as were the left-handers Franz Semper (SC DHfK Leipzig) and Nils Lichtlein (Füchse Berlin).
“In my opinion there is nothing serious about it,” the Icelander gave the all-clear. However, players should recover completely before arriving. Gislason: “I said: It’s better to stay away until you’re completely healthy.”
He is expecting Semper at the team hotel on Saturday and Köster is expected to join the team on Sunday. Uscins and Lichtlein are expected at the first training session on Monday.
Zechel’s curious ones Post-nomination
The nomination of circle runner Tim Zechel, who replaced the injured Jannik Kohlbacher (elbow operation), was strange. The 28-year-old was on a cruise – Gislason couldn’t reach him. “I had three numbers for him that I kept trying to call him on, but he didn’t answer any of them,” said the Icelander. “Then I spoke to his coach Bennet Wiegert (SC Magdeburg, editor), who finally reached him when he was at a port.”
Wiegert and Gislason spoke to Zechel by voice mail and asked him to call back – “fortunately he was only in Scandinavia and not that far away,” said Gislason. Zechel traveled directly from the ship to the DHB team’s hotel in Hamburg.
Two tough tests against Brazil
The German team’s final tough tests will be on Thursday (6:30 p.m.) in Flensburg and next Saturday (4:20 p.m./live on Erste) in Hamburg against World Cup participants Brazil. Gislason praised the South Americans as “a really, really good team now,” and Brazil played “very physically. They are a very good opponent for us who will challenge us a lot,” added the 65-year-old.
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Hamburg Journal | 01/03/2025 | 7:30 p.m
