analysis
There were key moments and important insights for the next World Cup game against Switzerland: Germany’s handball players held their nerve, but were also very self-critical after the 35:28 win against Poland that was only clear at the end. Juri Knorr gave the all-clear to Sportschau.
“If our number 1 backcourt player were to miss out, it would of course be very painful.”said national coach Alfred Gislason shortly after the game with a worried expression. Knorr slipped after 39 minutes and limped off the field with pain in his left knee. He was treated and never came back until the end.
While his colleagues were still in the shower after the many interviews, Knorr crouched on a stone staircase in the catacombs of the Jyske Bank Boxen with his cell phone to his ear. When asked about his well-being, he gave the Sportschau a slight all-clear with a view to the Switzerland game on Friday (January 17, 2025, 8:30 p.m. in the live ticker at sportschau.de): “That should work, it feels okay so far.”
Five goals from Knorr and a great pass
Previously, Knorr was one of the few who had presented themselves largely stable in the first half (apart from a blatantly bad pass when there were two men outnumbered). He scored five goals before his injury, and with a dream pass to Renārs Uščins in the 35th minute, he opened a three-goal lead for the first time. The score was 20:17 after this spectacular action, after which Gislason clenched his fist euphorically on the sideline.
There were other key moments in this game that seamlessly transferred the weaknesses from the last two test matches against Brazil into the World Cup: at the front, completely free throws were missed against the strong Polish keeper Adam Morawski, and at the back the defense initially had no access to Ariel Pietrasik and the giant at the circle, Kamil Syprzak.
First Witzke shines, then Späth
But a double strike from substitute Luca Witzke initially limited the damage (11:11 in the 23rd minute). Then there was an incredible save from David Späth, who Wolff substituted after 25 minutes. Späth immediately heated up the German fans wildly, and Johannes Golla used the ball to throw into the empty goal: 23:21.
Shortly afterwards, Wolff’s hour, or rather minute, came again, and it really hurt the Poles: First, the world-class goalie from Kiel, as a “substitute player”, only parried Pawel Paterek’s shot for the seven meters. In the very next attack, the North Macedonian referee duo pointed the line again – and Wolff won the duel again, this time against Syprzak. Instead of reducing the score to 23:24, Poland was still behind 21:24 (44th).
Zerbe wins the ball, Uščins scores – that’s it
That was the preliminary decision, and when Lukas Zerbe won the ball with a brilliant defensive move in the 51st minute and once again put Uščins (ultimately ten goals) at 29:25, the issue was over.
Neither Uščins nor Wolff, neither Witzke nor Golla, who… “Man of the Match” was chosen, but then wanted to be celebrated for what seemed to be a befitting victory. Wolff clarified: “The first 45 minutes were unacceptable. There’s no way we can repeat that against Switzerland, neither offensively nor defensively.”
Drawing lessons for the Switzerland game
Uščins was proud that the team “Despite all the nervousness, I always stuck with it” but he also admitted: “It was a really difficult start to the tournament, we will learn our lessons from it against Switzerland.”
Golla explained the problem like this: “The first game in a tournament like this is always special, you’re under pressure, you’re not in the flow yet, you don’t know where you stand. But we addressed the problems in defense and in exploiting opportunities very clearly and reacted very well .”
“Always stick with it, always keep going”
Witzke, who contributed five goals from the bench, explained: “In handball you always have to stick with it, always keep going, even when nothing is going. At some point you tire the opponent and force them to make mistakes, which is exactly what we took to heart and then took advantage of.”
Gislason remained very calm during the break
When asked by Sportschau, the national coach explained what specifically made the difference in the significantly better second half: “I stayed calm during the break, but we made a few adjustments. At the beginning we often wanted to do too much too quickly, got stressed and made mistakes as a result. In defense we sometimes struggled for too long when there was something missed, and as a result they didn’t make the decisive runs.”
Then Gislason turns his attention to Friday: “We cannot allow ourselves to make these mistakes against Switzerland. But we have shown again that we can react when something goes in the wrong direction.”