After the opening win against Poland, the DHB team goes to the World Cup against Switzerland. They would have preferred a completely different opponent.
Nils Kögler reports from Denmark
Andy Schmid lost some clear words when asked about another duel with Germany: “I’m getting tired of it, if I’m honest.” The Swiss national handball coach’s frustration is no coincidence. Because when his team plays against the DHB team in the second group game of the Handball World Cup on Friday evening (from 8:30 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online), it will be the third meeting in a very short time.
At the European Championships last year, Germany and Switzerland played the opening game against each other – at that time Schmid was even a player himself. Things were different in the second duel in the European Championship qualification last November. The resigned Schmid had already taken over as Swiss national coach.
Whether Schmid was on the field or on the sidelines, the result remained just as frustrating for him: at 27:14 and 35:26, the Swiss suffered significant defeats – or as Schmid put it: “We were right twice Got a nut.” Before the next meeting on Friday, Schmid has every reason to be pessimistic – because the Swiss team is plagued by problems.
“I have to say quite honestly, the Germans don’t suit us. We have to recognize that from the past. That doesn’t mean that we’re lying on our backs, but handball doesn’t suit us,” said Schmid the day before the duel not very optimistic. The 41-year-old particularly emphasized the cover work of the DHB selection, which he described as the best in the world. In addition, there are two strong goalkeepers and hardly any player changes between offense and defense.
“I don’t know where the weak points are at the moment,” said Schmid full of praise and summarized his team’s difficult situation in a comparison: “Sometimes, when you play against such good opponents, you feel like you used to before a test, where you If you have ten topics and don’t have enough time to learn all ten topics, then you only learn seven and hope you don’t get to the other three.”
His team therefore has to accept the role of outsiders. “We are playing against a team that is talking about reaching the semi-finals and winning a medal. We are already a bit away from that,” said Schmid.
The pessimism of the Swiss handball legend is hardly surprising. Because while the two heavy defeats last year have clearly dented the Swiss’ self-confidence, they have also lost a lot of quality in the squad.
First of all, there was Schmid’s own resignation, which robbed the Swiss of an identification figure and a leading player on the board. To make matters worse, their best remaining player, Manuel Zehnder from Bundesliga club SC Magdeburg, suffered a serious knee injury shortly before the start of the World Cup and was out for months and therefore also for the World Cup.
According to Schmid, the Swiss squad consists essentially only of young, inexperienced players who have hardly played more than one or two major tournaments so far. At 31, goalkeeper Nikola Portner is the oldest player in the team.
But the Magdeburg keeper has had a difficult time. Last year he was suspended because of a suspicious doping test. He therefore had to sit idly by when his SCM won the double. It was only in June that the Handball Bundesliga lifted the ban again because neither intention nor fault could be proven for a very small amount of the substance detected. The anti-doping agency now wants to hear the case before the International Court of Arbitration for Sport.