The nation’s knee seems to be holding: Juri Knorr is back in training before the game against Switzerland (Friday, 8:30 p.m. in the live ticker at sportschau.de), Franz Semper remains on hold.
National team manager Benjamin Chatton seemed significantly more optimistic on Thursday afternoon than the previous evening when he spoke about the playmaker’s health. Knorr collapsed in the 39th minute of the 35:28 win against Poland, received treatment on his left knee and was no longer able to take part in the rest of the game.
Now Chatton says: “I’m not a doctor, but it looks fundamentally positive that he will be available to us tomorrow. As things stand, it’s not a structural injury, but we don’t know 100 percent yet.” Knorr will definitely take part in training again and complete stress tests there.
“He was fine at breakfast”
If they are positive, the 16-man squad will remain unchanged, which is not good news for Franz Semper: The backcourt player was left out of the squad as the 17th man before the Poland game due to slight muscular problems. According to Chatton, it will stay that way for the time being – if no other player is unavailable.
Left winger Lukas Mertens is confident about Knorr’s comeback: “From what I saw of him at breakfast, he’s fine.”
Most recently two big victories against Switzerland
It is questionable, however, whether using Knorr against Switzerland really makes sense. If you look at the last two duels, then it’s definitely not worth taking a risk: At the European Championships in Düsseldorf, the DHB team dismantled the neighboring country into all its individual parts with a score of 27:14 in front of over 53,000 spectators. In the previous European Championship qualifier in Mannheim there was also a smooth 35:26.
Backcourt giant Julian Köster, however, urgently warns the Sportschau against taking these two games as a benchmark: “We can’t buy anything for that here at the World Cup. I expect a similarly difficult game to the one against Poland.” Köstner’s reasoning: “In their 17:17 draw against the Czech Republic, the Swiss showed how hard they can defend and what an outstanding goalkeeper they have in Nikola Portner. We simply have to finish with more concentration than in the first half against Poland.”
The Swiss are extremely missing Zehnder
While the DHB team could very well compensate for a break for Knorr with Luca Witzke or Nils Lichtlein, the Swiss have to cope with an enormous weakening: they showed how much they are weakened on the offensive by the injury to Magdeburg striker Manuel Zehnder Clear match against the Czechs. Zehnder was top scorer in the Bundesliga last season with 277 goals for newly promoted ThSV Eisenach before moving to Magdeburg. He is now out indefinitely with a torn cruciate ligament, medial ligament and meniscus.