The hope is back, but now there are two finals: Germany’s handball players have not given up the European Championship semifinals.
The hope of reaching the semi-finals at the European Championship lives on with the German handball players. After the equally redeeming and impressive victory over ex-world champions Netherlands, the next coup should succeed on Tuesday (15.11.2022/8.30 p.m. in the live ticker at sportschau.de) against Olympic champions France. But national coach Markus Gaugisch steps on the brakes on euphoria.
Gaugic: “Don’t freak out”
“We shouldn’t go crazy after a game like this,” he said after the 36:28 against the Netherlands on Friday in Skopje, which had reignited the euphoria in the German team. Just not with the 48-year-old. “We will not praise everything to the heavens”, he added. Because the semi-final chances are still not good. With 2:4 points, the selection of the German Handball Federation (DHB) needs two wins in the final games against France and Romania on Wednesday (3.30 p.m.), Germany is dependent on mistakes from the competition. “We are hot and we know that something is still possible. We want to get the best out of it”, announced Luisa Schulze. Johanna Stockschläder still firmly believes in progress: “Now the focus is fully on France, we’re stepping on the gas.”
Only 17 hours between France and Romania
But Gaugisch calmed down immediately. The first thing to do is to relax, he explained. Because from Tuesday it’s going to be one after the other. There are only 17 hours between the games against France and Romania. “We accept it and look forward to the two games”said the coach.
For the time being, the team withdrew from the hustle and bustle of the European Championship. The players strolled together through the capital of North Macedonia at the weekend “to get your head on other thoughts for a moment”, said Julia Maidhof. After that, the focus will be “Focused on handball day after day”, promised the backcourt player. In the race for the semifinals “everything open again”.
Messed up preliminary round
Only the first two teams of the group of six, which is completed by the German preliminary round opponents Montenegro and Spain, move into the round of the last four. The third in the group is still playing for fifth place, which could still be important in view of a possible participation in a qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games. There are now two “finals” for the DHB selection. After the messed up preliminary round, from which Germany took a mortgage of 0:4 points into the main round, the team showed itself to be greatly improved. “I hope that the knot has now burst and that we can continue from there”said Captain Emily Bölk.