Lesson from the European champions: Germany’s handball players have received their next strong damper in Sweden.
The team of national coach Alfred Gislason had no chance at 23:32 (8:16) against the World Cup fourth and offered a good eight months before the home European Championship 2024 a very weak performance for a long time.
On Sunday (3:35 p.m./ARD) the German team will meet Spain, third in the World Championships, in Berlin at the end of the EHF Euro Cup.
In a German team that acted erratically from the start, only Andreas Wolff was convincing on Thursday evening. With his saves, the 2016 European champion prevented an even clearer deficit in the first section. Only after the break did Germany, who want to play for the medals at the European Championships at home, get into the game better.
The best German throwers on Thursday evening in front of 4,716 spectators were 20-year-old Renars Uscins, one of four international debutants, and captain Johannes Golla, each with five goals.
“Huge Tragedy”: Drux suffers ruptured Achilles tendon
For the selection of the German Handball Federation it was the fifth defeat in the fifth game of the EHF Euro Cup. In March, the two duels with world champion Denmark (23:30 and 21:28) were lost, and the DHB team also failed to score in the first leg against Sweden (33:37) and Spain (31:32). .
To make matters worse for the German team, Paul Drux suffered a torn Achilles tendon. The Berlin backcourt player fell to the ground screaming during an offensive action without opponents and left the field after 34 minutes, supported by team manager Oliver Roggisch. Initial investigations confirmed the worst fears.
“It’s a huge tragedy for Paul,” said DHB sports director Axel Kromer: “It’s the worst thing that could happen to an athlete.”
DHB team with a number of misses and technical errors
Gislason had called on his team after the poor performance against Denmark before the game: “I’m hoping for an improvement in all areas.” But Golla and Co. did not comply with this request.
As against the Danes, the German attack was particularly problematic. A number of misthrows and technical errors invited the Swedes to counterattack – and drove Gislason upset. “We need a bit more concentration up front,” warned the Icelander during his first time-out when the score was 3:7.
But because the defense against the savvy Scandinavians around Flensburg’s playmaker Jim Gottfridsson had little access, the game was practically decided at the break. “Of course that’s sobering,” said DHB sports director Kromer at half-time: “It’s not what we planned and expected.”
Anyone who believed that the change of sides would cause a jolt through the German team was initially mistaken. It took just 90 seconds for Sweden to make it 18:8 with two goals and lead for the first time by ten goals.
After all: The German team did not give away the game. The 20-year-old Uscins, one of the newcomers, showed his class with cheeky actions.