Bratislava (dpa) – The strong goalkeeper Till Klimpke was still grinning with pure joy at his performance when national coach Alfred Gislason was already thinking again with his usual serious expression.
After the 34:29 success in the second European Championship preliminary round game against Austria, the German handball players are on a direct course towards the main round, but given the weak first half Gislason still sees potential for improvement.
“We’re still a bit worried that we’ll never really be there from the start.This has to get a little better. Nevertheless, the positive outweighs it,” said the Icelander in Bratislava.
Kastening praises keeper Klimpke
With the perfect score of 4-0 points, the DHB selection is now going into the group final against Poland this Tuesday (6 p.m. / ZDF). If the 23-year-old Klimpke then holds up just as well, that could form the basis for the next success of the newly formed team. “He saved our asses today, we can only say thank you,” right winger Timo Kastening praised his teammates. Klimpke was also happy about himself.
“I’m a bit overwhelmed. I didn’t expect it to be such a good game,” said the HSG Wetzlar keeper. “But you have to look ahead now. In a tournament like this you can’t talk about a game like that for so long, we want to win our group.” For this, the DHB selection has to get a better start to a game.
Because the second victory at this European Championship in Slovakia and Hungary was hard work. But this time it wasn’t Klimpke’s fault. Again Gislason had trusted the young keeper in the starting line-up, while Andreas Wolff was on the bench for almost the entire game.
And this time the plan worked differently than in the tournament opener against Belarus (33:29). The 23-year-old showed strong saves throughout the game, and backcourt player Sebastian Heymann also found his way into the game much better than last thanks to early goals. Nevertheless, it was initially tight.
Kühn’s positive corona test “a shock”
“Till Klimpke showed a good performance, but the defense was extremely weak,” said Gislason on ARD. Throughout the game, Klimpke frustrated the Austrians with his saves and helped the DHB selection to a well-deserved success, with Kastening standing out as the top scorer with nine goals.
However, the fact that there was a problem at the beginning was possibly due to the absence of backcourt shooter Julius Kühn, whose positive corona test had surprised the team. “It was a shock. We also played a bit for him so that he can hopefully play again in the main round,” said Heymann from Göppingen. Christoph Steinert said that something like this “can’t be gotten out of my head”. “The impacts are getting closer,” he said.
To make matters worse, Austria’s 39-year-old goalkeeper Golub Doknic got off to an extremely successful start in the evening. The experienced player fended off attempts by Kastening and Co. to throw several times. The Austrians were even in the lead at the break – also because the German defense was again lacking.
Three debutants – Wagner not there yet
Or perhaps there was a lack of routine. Young and wild, that’s how you could describe the newly formed German team. In contrast to the success at the start, Gislason even gave significantly more tournament newcomers the chance against the Austrians: Luca Witzke, Lukas Mertens or even second division professional Julian Köster came to their first minutes in the European Championship, who made a short-term appointment for Kühn and also played in the 2nd Bundesliga. League active Hendrik Wagner, on the other hand, has not yet been in the hall.
Despite the lack of routine, the DHB selection increased. The defense was more stable, and the inclusion of Steinert proved to be a stroke of luck. The professional from HC Erlangen is already 31 years old, but he is also playing his first major tournament – and so far with a carefree attitude that not only the national coach enjoys. Thanks to the accuracy of Steinert and Kastening and Klimpke’s strong goalkeeper performance, the DHB selection pulled away in the end.
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