Germany failed at Portugal at the Handball World Cup. Despite the hard fight, the DHB team was extremely narrow against the outsider.
The dream is over: the German handball players failed at the World Cup in the quarter -finals. Against the surprise team from Portugal, the protégés of national coach Alfred Gislason lost 30:31 (26:26, 9:13) after extra time.
This means that the selection of the German Handball Association does not play for the medals, as at the Olympic Games in summer, but can still be a maximum of fifth World Cup fifth.
“Of course that’s very bitter, but after a very bad start, the team still fought great,” was the conclusion of the national coach at the ARD microphone. Then he again described the departure as “extremely bitter”.
At the beginning, the German team struggled. The nervousness was clearly noticeable to the protégés of national coach Gislason. It was only in the seventh minute that Renārs Uščins achieved the first German goal to 1: 2 with a powerful throw from the back area.
However, this did not give the DHB team to this and until the tenth minute the Portuguese pulled away to 5: 1 with a seven-meter of the strong António Areia. The national coach then took a break, which at least had an effect at least because Uščins again marked the second German goal.
However, it took a while before the German team was more structured. But led by playmaker Juri Knorr and the shiny goalkeeper Wolff, the DHB team came up to 6: 7 (19th minute).
However, the Portuguese continued to act cleverly and moved away to 11: 7 (24th) with their 19-year-old top talent Francisco Costa with their 19-year-old top talent Francisco Costa. With 13: 9 we went to the cabins.
In round two, Knorr set a sign after a few seconds and reduced to 10:13. Although Germany acted much more than in the first 30 minutes, the Portuguese kept their lead in two to three goals for a long time.
Then circular runner Johannes Golla turned up and shortened with two goals at a row to 16:17 (41.). In the 46th minute it was time: Lukas Zerbe made a balanced score for the first time since the start of the game.
A minute later he got the first lead of the Germans (19:18) – also by seven meters. The DHB team released this again almost eight minutes before the end when Pedro Portela threw in seven meters to 22:22.
Then it went back and forth before Golla put the German team in the lead one minute before the end of the regular game. However, Portelas achieved a good half minute before the end of the 26:26 equalization-and thus ensured the extension.
It remained exciting in this, and thanks to the hip throw of the strong Martim Costa, the southern Europeans prevailed very shortly before the final siren.