Before the Handball World Cup, there are important tests for the German handball players: There are two matches against the native country of coach Alfred Gislason.
The first good news for the German national handball team just a week before the start of the World Cup came before the final endurance test: both upcoming games against Iceland will be played in front of full houses. Both the game on Saturday in Bremen (8,872 seats) and the day after in Hanover (10,043) are sold out.
So there will be quite a bit going on when the newly assembled German team takes on their coach’s home country. “After almost two years of Corona, we didn’t expect that”said DHB CEO Mark Schober on Thursday at a press conference in Hanover.
“It’s something special”
“It’s my first time playing against Iceland. It’s special for me” – Alfred Gislason is looking forward to the games against his home country. The Icelanders have high expectations of the upcoming World Cup. Unlike the German team – which at most are considered to have outsider chances – they hope quite specifically for a medal.
Gislason now comes at just the right time for the difficult opponent: “After the two duels, we know where we are. It’s much better to have an opponent who ranks a little higher than an opponent where you have two easy games and afterwards you don’t know how good you really are”.
Iceland – interesting mix of experience and youth
Iceland have an experienced side that have recently brought some interesting young players into the mix. For example, left winger Hakon Dadi Styrmisson from VfL Gummersbach, who has only eight international appearances under his belt, made it into coach Gudmundur Gudmundsson’s World Cup squad.
Gudmundsson is Iceland national coach for the third time. He was involved in the great triumphs: in 2008 he led the team to the Olympic final in Beijing, in 2010 Iceland won bronze with him at the European Championships. Iceland finished fifth at Euro 2022.
Magdeburgers play an important role
The most important players besides the enormously talented goalkeeper Viktor Hallgrimsson (22) from Nantes are the veteran Aron Palmarsson and, more recently, the Bundesliga players Gisli Kristjansson and Omar Ingi Magnusson, both of whom play for SC Magdeburg.
Germany’s right winger Christoph Steinert has huge respect for the Magdeburg duo: “They are extremely strong in the isolation phases. It will be a big task for us to control them. Definitely an excellent test for us,” says the Erlangen in the Sportschau interview.
Eight Germany Legionnaires in the squad
A total of eight Germany legionnaires and a duo from Switzerland made it into the squad. In addition to Styrmisson, Kristjansson and Magnusson, these are Ellidi Snaer Vidarsson, Ymir Örn Gislason (Rhein-Neckar Löwen) and Arnar Freyr Arnarson (MT Melsungen) from Gummersbach.
Backcourt player Elvar Örn Jonsson also comes from Melsungen, and Viggo Kristjansson (SC DHfK Leipzig) has also been nominated in the backcourt. The only real blow for the northern Europeans: playmaker Haukur Thrastarsson (Lomza Industria Kielce) is out with a cruciate ligament rupture.
Iceland in a “hammer group”
However, the Icelanders caught a real “hammer group” in the preliminary round at the World Cup: It’s against Portugal, Hungary and South Korea. “Before we can talk about a medal, we have to get through the preliminary round first”says Coach Gudmundsson.
On January 12 to Katowice
After the two games, the DHB selection travels to Barsinghausen for the final preparation for the final round from January 11th to 29th in Poland and Sweden. On January 12th we will go to Katowice. The team of national coach Alfred Gislason will face Asian champions Qatar (January 13), Serbia (January 15) and Algeria (January 17) in the preliminary round of the World Cup. All games start at 6 p.m.