Juri Knorr was missing against Italy due to an illness. The playmaker is even so bad that national coach Alfred Gislason left open when he can intervene again.
Nils Kögler reports from Denmark
Overall, the relief of the German national handball team was great. After the 34:27 win in the second main round game against Italy, the DHB players fell a large stone from the heart. If the likely case occurs that World Cup title defender and Olympic champion Denmark defeat Switzerland in late game, the DHB selection has made it into the quarter-finals by winning.
However, national coach Alfred Gislason has to worry about his sick playmaker Juri Knorr. He and left wing Rune Dahmke missed the Italian game due to an illness. As the DHB announced, both players have moved to single rooms in the team hotel and also take their meals in isolation there. How things are going on with them remains open.
“I don’t know what it looks like with Rune Dahmke and Juri Knorr,” said Alfred Gislason after the Italy. “I firmly assume that neither will play the Tunisia game,” the national coach said. It should be all the easier that the last main round game will probably be meaningless in terms of sport next Saturday.
But especially in the case of Knorr, a return to the quarter -finals on Wednesday is probably not certain. “After that (game against Tunisia, ed.
In the meantime, the teammates also think of their sick fellow campaigners. “Juri is a world -class player. Of course we lack that,” said goalkeeper David Späth. “Above all, I feel sorry for him because he is a great player and has played a great tournament to date,” continued Späth. He hoped that Knorr could soon return, but “health is above everything.”
“We all think of him-just like in Rune. Every part that breaks us off the team hurts us,” Knorr’s teammate from the Rhein-Neckar Löwen confirm.
In the meantime, the DHB does everything to ensure that the wave of disease does not spread further. “Of course, our great concern is that other players are reporting, but it still doesn’t look like it,” said Gislason.