“Trial and Error” four times at the Handball World Cup – but now the search games seem to be over. The German handball players are approaching their medal form in time for the knockout round.
The German one National team Didn’t show a perfect game at this Handball World Cup, not even against Italy. But the confident 34:27 shows: The DHB team is getting closer to its medal form in time for the knockout round – especially thanks to a high-class defensive performance.
“Trial and Error” – this was the phrase that national team manager Benjamin Chatton used when describing Germany’s first appearances at the Handball World Cup. Even though only one attempt (30:40 against Denmark) had failed, national coach Alfred Gislason continued to search for the right formation before the “final” against Italy.
Whether due to injuries and illnesses in the run-up to the tournament, a lack of consistency in attack, defense and goal or the increased expectations placed on the still young team – the 65-year-old, despite many experiments in his starting line-up and many of his substitutions, failed to achieve one completely to bring a convincing DHB selection to the table.
Not perfect, but the best attempt
60 minutes later it seems clear: the time for “trial and error” is over. The fifth attempt wasn’t perfect again, but it was clearly the most promising. “The defense was very strong today”said Gislason happily. The defense, which last year guaranteed fourth place at the home European Championships and silver at the Olympics, delivered its best performance under pressure together with goalkeeper Andreas Wolff.
After a difficult initial phase, the defense, especially the inside block, had the right feeling for the opponent’s unorthodox offensive, moved well, was compact, and left few gaps. Unlike against Denmark, Germany was – as Marko Grgić put it – the opposing attackers “rolled out the red carpet”.
Golla and Köster are convincing
This time, the duo that had led Germany to its most recent successes closed the gap at the back: Julian Köster and Johannes Golla. The “Hannover block”, which had previously had major problems twice, remained outside: Justus Fischer only came on late to play a few minutes, Lukas Stutzke played no role at all this time.
Wolff was also there again this time, shining with 18 saves. Against Denmark he was initially surprisingly left out, then after being substituted on he was completely let down by the people in front of him and was therefore furious. Now, when asked by Sportschau, he said whether the defense had finally come together and supported him sufficiently: “You can leave it as it is.”
Semper with three goals in 112 seconds
An invigorating element was added at the front: Franz Semper was allowed to get involved for the first time after Juri Knorr and Rune Dahmke (both in the hotel with flu) fell ill. The 27-year-old was initially the 17th man to be omitted four times in a row due to slight muscular problems – now Gislason let him off the leash: within 112 seconds he slammed three shots into the net for Domenico Ebner and ended up with a strong five goals in six attempts.
“You couldn’t necessarily expect it to come in like that.”said Semper. “But the boys also worked well for me so that I could get a few free balls.”
DHB selection delivers under pressure
This evening was definitely a liberation. Even if everything wasn’t going as planned at the front (Luca Witzke: “We have to get it done quickly now, to have a top day both offensively and defensively at the same time.”) and Gislason was annoyed about 19 missed throws, this team proved one thing: When it matters, they are there.
This time, too, they needed a bit of a start, trailing 4:7 after twelve minutes and finding it difficult to counter the Italians’ unusual game with their open coverage. But then “two-way player” Köster took over the direction, not only shining defensively with two blocks, but also initiating the turnaround in attack – in the end he scored five times in five attempts.
Kastening gets into position
Lukas Mertens also contributed important goals, as did Timo Kastening – and not just from the seven-meter spot. The play on the outside positions, which was often criminally neglected in previous games, was definitely a success factor this time, and in the duel on the right with Lukas Zerbe, Kastening has now gained an advantage with his six-goal performance (three seven-meter throws).
Offensive even without Knorr and Uščins
Other important findings: The absence of world-class playmaker Knorr was well compensated for. Even the weakest tournament performance of attacking anchor Renars Uščins (only two goals in five attempts, two ball losses) was not noticed in the end. However, one thing is clear: the two will be indispensable for the attack on a medal, even if Knorr and Dahmke will probably continue to be missing for the time being.
Gislason: “I fully expect that neither of them will play the Tunisia game. After that, there’s certainly a better chance of Rune getting back in than Juri.”
Tunisia game still offers opportunities
Taking health risks would of course be pointless before the last main round match against Tunisia on Saturday (8.30 p.m., in the audio stream and live ticker at sportschau.de), which is no longer relevant in terms of sport, but the game still offers several opportunities. Gislason can continue to use his defense, the team finally has no pressure thanks to the Danish win against Switzerland and can simply warm up: for the quarter-finals on Wednesday in Oslo against possible opponents such as Portugal, Sweden or Spain.
For Johannes Golla, the arduous path to this starting position was exactly the right one. The Captain: “We don’t have to talk about the fact that you’d prefer to go to the quarter-finals with lots of wins and perfect handball. But I’d rather get there with hard work than fall on our faces at some point with too much ease.” The German handball players may not have always convinced, but they didn’t fall – and can now dream of a medal again.