Gislason’s idea: defensive strength
This interpretation of the German starting lineup also fits in with the fact that Christoph Steinert started on the right wing – and on the defensive in the half-right position. Steinert is a trained backcourt player, but he also appears in the outside position at his club HC Erlangen from time to time. That was enough for Gislason to let him start – in front of Timo Kastening, one of the faces of the German team and as a nimble counter-attack player on the right winger he also has special qualities.
The third surprise, which Gislason explained after the game, but which had probably been announced for a long time for those involved, was the goalkeeper position: Till Klimpke instead of Andreas Wolff. Experts such as sports show expert Dominik Klein had expected a European championship in which Wolff would go into a tournament as the clear number one for the first time in a long time. Possibly the opponent should be forced to throw more distance, for which Klimpke is a real specialist. In the Bundesliga, only Daniel Rebmann has a better rate of long-distance throws from the backcourt.
Experience as trump
So far so good – in theory. In fact, Gislason corrected two of his experiments relatively quickly. After less than eleven minutes at a score of 2:7, Klimpke and Heymann had to go out again. Seven shots on goal – the young goalkeeper had to fish the ball out of the net seven times. Three throws came from the backcourt, actually only one of them was durable. In the other four goals, one player appeared free in front of the 23-year-old. Klimpke was visibly annoyed, but was hardly to blame for the deficit. The same applied to Heymann, who made a mistake up front but was not to blame for the goals conceded defensively.
So it was probably more experience that the national coach decided on in this difficult situation. Less the lost trust in the qualities of Heymann and Klimpke, but rather in the routine of his old drivers Wolff and Kühn, who together have over 230 international matches under their belt. Heymann and Klimpke are about a tenth of that. It was no longer the time for experiments – being the favorite five goals down in the opening game of the European Championship is something such a young handball player has to come to terms with.
Perhaps it was also an advantage for Steinert at that moment that he is already 31 years old despite lacking international experience. He stayed on it and found his way into the encounter after about a quarter of an hour. The national coach also stayed on in the second half, when the specialist switch between defense and attack would have been much easier due to the change of sides and the closer bench. The fact that Kai Häfner played one of his best international matches in attack was also due to the fact that he constantly got his breaks defensively in the wing position and could rely on his neighbor Steinert.
No time for further experiments (yet).
Djibril M’Bengue would also have been an alternative for this role, but given Steinert’s good performance, a change was not necessary. And Gislason did without further experiments in favor of a sure win in the final phase. M’Bengue, Luca Witzke, Simon Ernst, Julian Köster and Lukas Mertens still have to be patient. But it is likely that they will still come to their missions. After all, the national coach has already proven that he has very individual ideas for his squad, depending on the opponent.
Status: 01/15/2022, 08:00