The official “player of the game” at the successful start to the European Championship against Austria was Johannes Golla. The German fans celebrated their goalkeeper even more after the 30:27 win. Overall, it was an evening that gives hope.
It could have been tight again. The 58th minute had just begun when the previously outstanding tournament debutant Tom Kiesler received a two-minute penalty. Austria’s top shooter Sebastian Frimmel could have reduced the score to 26:28 with his tenth goal, but Andreas Wolff made a big impression and parried the seven-meter penalty. It was ultimately the decisive scene; only then was Team Austria’s resistance broken. “Andy, Andy!” intoned the 5,000 German fans in the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning in Denmark.
Wolff – withstood the self-generated pressure
The seven-meter penalty was Wolff’s twelfth save of the evening; he had withstood the pressure he had created himself. At the team presentation shortly before kick-off, the Austrian fans booed and whistled at him. That was the answer to his mocking characterization of the way Iker Romero’s team played. Wolff insulted his opening opponent with “anti-handball” and “ugliness”. His words were certainly not an affectation, and he did not feel compelled to meekly backtrack after the game to the sports show.
He said about his seven-meter save shortly before the end: “That felt good, it was very, very important. The Austrians fought back again after we had actually already controlled the game well. That was the decisive ball to be able to say: We win these two points after a very tough game.” And when asked about his provocations: “Of course, one or two of the formulations were a bit exaggerated, but no one actually contradicted me on the matter. I said that this seven against six is anti-handball, and I was confirmed again It’s extremely stressful for me as a goalkeeper, so I’m glad that we don’t have them as opponents anymore for now.”
Golla with seven goals and three assists
In addition to Wolff, Golla also played a crucial role in ensuring that the path from Austria to the main round is now significantly more difficult. With seven goals, the captain was the best German thrower, as well as three assists. But perhaps even more than his brilliant offensive statistics, his great aggressiveness in defense influenced the game from the first minute. “I actually wanted to set an example early on and set a direction“, Golla commented on the enormous presence and tough duels with which he carried along his teammates Kiesler and Julian Köster.
Lukas Mertens praised the defense chief on ARD: “Captain – that says it all. Johannes simply does an outstanding job, he is simply indispensable in Flensburg and in our national team.” Köster was also enthusiastic: “He’s going forward, front and back. An outstanding game from him, of course he’s 100 percent rightly the man of the match.”
Missing the empty goal too often
However, Golla himself still found ways to improve, as Germany could have saved themselves the stress in the last few minutes. But the opponent’s ball losses in the much-quoted seven against six (i.e. in the offensive without a goalkeeper) were rarely punished consistently, the DHB players even missed the empty goal three times. Golla comments: “Of course we have to make better use of that. But basically we have to take these throws in order not to get involved in the slow game of the Austrians. Our strength is supposed to be fast-paced handball, so we have to take risks sometimes.”
It ultimately went well against Austria, especially thanks to Wolff and Golla. But with a view to the two other group games on Saturday against Serbia (8.30 p.m./ARD) and on Monday against Spain (8.30 p.m./live ticker at sportschau.de), national coach Alfred Gislason is calling for a learning effect: “I saw an outstanding defense. But we also didn’t hit the empty goal at times and made too many mistakes. With a five-goal lead ten minutes before the end, you just have to play the game completely. We could have won much more – we definitely have to improve in attack against Serbia.”