In the penultimate test before the European Championship in their own country, the German national handball team celebrated a victory against Portugal, but still revealed weaknesses before the start of the European Championship on January 10th against Switzerland.
On Thursday (January 4th, 2024), national coach Alfred Gislason’s team won 34:33 (18:14) against Portugal in Flensburg. The DHB team was able to rely primarily on goalkeeper Andreas Wolff and playmaker Juri Knorr (6 goals), who left their mark on the game.
Despite the victory, the national coach wasn’t entirely happy with the performance. “What makes me very dissatisfied is that we lose track after the half-time break and make a lot of mistakes,” analyzed Gislason in the Sportschau interview: “That was not the defensive and goalkeeping performance in the second half that we imagined. ”
Lightning start with quick counterattacks
On the offensive, the DHB team was there right from the start. Gislason brought his probable starting seven and the hosts quickly expanded their lead, especially through counterattacks with Kastening (5 goals). Germany pulled away with 4:1 (5th minute) and 9:5 (11th minute). Debutant Martin Hanne from TSV Hannover-Burgdorf scored with his first ball action to make it 10:5.
Playmaker Knorr with strong finishes and passes as well as pivot Johannes Golla (5 goals) also underlined the German team’s good offensive form.
Four goal lead at halftime
National coach Gislason, however, was not entirely satisfied with the defensive work in the first half. “Throws that were too easy,” complained the Icelander during a time-out, and sports show expert Dominik Klein also said that when the score was 18:14 at halftime, “the team was sometimes a little too far away from their opponents.”
In the second round, Gislason changed things up a bit more and at times the team lost the thread. Bad passes and too little movement in defense caused the lead to shrink to two goals (22:20, 39th minute).
No consistency on defense
When Germany was twice outnumbered, Portugal even came within one goal (24:23, 43′). But after the penalties expired, the German team picked up again and, among other things, thanks to Hannes’ third of five goals to make it 28:24 (47th).
Nevertheless, in the test, which the team called the “first group game”, things got tight again in the end. In the final phase, Portugal was within a goal again and equalized with a spin from the right wing to make it 33:33 (58th). But U21 world champion Renars Uscins scored to make it 34:33 and goalkeeper Wolff parried the Portuguese’s last attack. This sealed the narrow victory.
First Portugal, then Switzerland
“Last ball saved, game won – if we do that at the European Championships, we’ll go far,” said goalkeeper Wolff with a wink in the Sportschau analysis.
On Saturday (from 5:45 p.m. in the live stream at sportschau.de) both teams will meet again in Kiel in the last European Championship endurance test. Four days later, the German national team will open the home European Championship against Switzerland in the Düsseldorf Arena on January 10th (8:45 p.m.) in front of an expected 50,000 spectators.