Bratislava (dpa) – Germany’s corona-plagued handball players celebrated their conciliatory conclusion with this curious European championship with a dance on the field.
Arm in arm, the squad, which had shrunk to 13 players, hopped across the pitch in Bratislava, after which national coach Alfred Gislason hugged each of his players with a smile on his face. After the hard-fought 30:29 (16:12) victory in the final tournament game against Russia, the DHB selection returns home with a long-missed sense of achievement. “This is our personal European Championship title,” said goalkeeper Johannes Bitter, describing the significance of the success.
Gislason satisfied with performance
National coach Gislason was relieved that this unusual tournament for the German team was finally over. “You could see that some players were at the end of the game who already had seven games in their bones, sometimes with little breaks,” he said on ZDF. “We probably couldn’t have played another game with this team.” Nevertheless, the Icelander was satisfied with his team’s performance at the European Championship. “In the long run it was a very, very good tournament, for us, for me.”
At the end of the day, his team once again showed a particularly strong fighting performance. Captain Johannes Golla, Tobias Reichmann and Patrick Zieker were the best German throwers with five goals each and ensured that the team could start their journey home with a good feeling.
DHB selection greatly reduced
A number of her colleagues had already left the team hotel in the Slovakian capital. For the final tournament game, the already decimated squad of the DHB selection had become even smaller. National coach Gislason is actually allowed to call up 16 players for the European Championship games, at least 14 were planned this time – but then the Icelander gave up Hendrik Wagner at short notice. The backcourt player made his tournament debut against Sweden last Sunday after his corona infection and several days of quarantine, but complained of breathing problems after a few minutes.
So this time there were only 13 players in the German squad, fewer than ever before at this curious European Championship. Gislason wasn’t even able to put up a real defense because after the positive corona tests from Patrick Wiencek and Simon Ernst, only Golla was left as a defensive specialist. Nevertheless, the DHB selection got off to a good start, which was also due to the strong goalkeeper Daniel Rebmann. The post-nominated tournament debutant from Frisch Auf Göppingen was allowed to start at the European Championship for the first time and impressed with numerous saves. Germany was quickly four goals ahead.
Missing automatisms in the team
But who can blame Gislason’s side for the mistakes that followed? Of the original squad with which the Icelander started the journey to the European Championship, only Julian Köster, Philipp Weber, Lukas Zerbe and Golla were spared from the virus – a total of 15 players were caught. This is another reason why the DHB selection lacked automation. Instead of managing the lead, they kept making mistakes in attack. Weber in particular caught the eye with numerous misses, and other experienced players such as Tobias Reichmann and Fabian Wiede also missed some of the best chances. But Gislason stayed calm on the sidelines this time.
Instead of despairing of his team’s deficits, the 62-year-old was patient during his time-outs. What should he have asked for? Due to the chronic lack of defenders, the 21-year-old Köster from the second division club VfL Gummersbach had to help out in the center of defense, in the offensive there was a lack of endurance at some point. Nevertheless, it was enough to succeed in the end. Zieker scored the winning goal with a Kempa trick.