Handball European Championship – Germany has to do better against Hungary now

The semi-finals at the European Championships are still within reach for Germany’s handball players after the draw against Austria. But to achieve this, we not only need points against Hungary, but also a much better performance.

While Austria’s handball players celebrated despite having lost a five-goal lead in the second half, on the other side of the Cologne Arena pitch, most of the German players stared helplessly into space. Stunned by the performance just shown and one “lost point”as was the tenor on the microphones after the 22:22 (11:12) against the surprise team Austria.

Somehow a point gained for Germany?

But in almost all interviews after the game, both national coach Alfred Gislason and the German players quickly changed direction. The point “could still be important”it was said several times. “We have every chance of reaching the semi-finals”said right winger Timo Kastening, who like almost all of his teammates had had a terrible day, looked forward almost defiantly. And purely theoretically he is right.

Even if the Germans no longer have it completely in their own hands: If they win their last two main round games on Monday against Hungary (here in the audio live stream) and on Wednesday against Croatia, they need the Austrians to slip up against top favorite France or that Iceland, which has already been eliminated.

Especially on Monday, the DHB should take a close look at what happens before their own game in the Cologne hall. France can make it into the semi-finals against Austria from 6 p.m. It is quite realistic that the Austrians, who are still unbeaten in the tournament, will suffer their first defeat – against Germany, Mykola Bilyk, Robert Weber and Co. were on their last legs and only scored one goal in the last twelve minutes of the game.

Speeches and analyzes have to fix it

There are also a few other mathematical constructs, such as how the DHB team can even progress with a draw and a win. You can’t influence the other games anyway – the bigger problem, at least after the performance against Austria, is to imagine that both the Hungarians and the Croatians will be beaten.

“We can address what we did wrong today, but we can’t train it.”said Gislason at the sports show microphone. Of course, in this tight rhythm with a game every two days, real training stimuli are no longer possible, the strain is too great and individual players already have too many injuries. Regeneration, meetings, video studies – these must now be the means with which the Germans have to overcome one of the worst attacking performances in recent years and, above all, improve it.

Bad error rate, lack of playful answers

23 missed throws, eleven technical errors – these are numbers that sometimes you can’t even get to after two games. Austria’s goalkeeper Constantin Möstl was also outstanding, but some missed throws when turning or lifting were simply pitiful – there’s no other way to put it.

Such aspects can possibly be eliminated by “addressing” – it’s not as if seasoned national players like Kastening, Golla and Co. have suddenly forgotten how to throw and have to practice it again. Especially at this level, such throwing rates are often a matter of the mind.

From a purely analytical point of view, much more problematic was the obvious helplessness against a courageous opposing defense, which repeatedly took away the momentum from the German game by stepping out wide and “tying down” the backcourt players, as it is called in handball. The Germans had to rebuild without pace, got bogged down and then made bad passes under pressure or took unprepared throws.

Knorr and Köster’s individual actions were important

Due to the “disturbances” of Austria’s aggressive defense, the rehearsed routes and angles with which the DHB team approached the defense were no longer suitable – and then there were the many missed opportunities.

The national coach tried almost every possible backcourt constellation – none of them were really successful. Things went best with the “proven” formation around Julian Köster, Juri Knorr and Kai Häfner – even if they didn’t all have their best day either, but Knorr and Köster in particular were able to at least put in one or two individual actions.

Hungary plays tactically differently – chance for German attack?

The good news for the Germans in terms of handball before the game against the Hungarians, who are fully in the race for the semi-finals with four points: The Hungarians’ defense plays completely differently than that of the Austrians. A physically strong, somewhat passive formation is usually the method of choice. “The Hungarians have very tall inside block players, similar to what France has, very strong pivots and a good goalkeeper,” says sports show expert Dominik Klein.

This makes it even more difficult for the German backcourt players to score “easy goals” from a distance, but the DHB team has hardly managed to do that throughout the tournament anyway. However, the tempo game and the rehearsed running paths and intersections should be a little more “undisturbed” again. Important for fast players such as Knorr and Köster. The Hungarians’ defense is not dissimilar to that of the French – and the Germans managed at least 30 goals.

Hungary’s physique will be tough

But that doesn’t mean that things will automatically go better for the DHB team against Hungary. The problems that Hungary’s team causes their opponents are rather different. Physically, the team around the 2.07 meter circle runner Bence Banhidi is one of the strongest teams in the tournament.

According to the squad list, ten of the 20 players in the squad are taller than 1.95 meters, while the Germans only have five players who exceed this height. The pivot game and the big backcourt shooters in particular are likely to be an enormous challenge for the Germans in their own defense – especially since ARD expert Klein fears for the physical condition of Knorr and Co. “How is the battery, how are the players doing? How many grains are left – that’s what worries me the most.”

The coaching team will have analyzed the Hungarians in much more detail – but all these ideas and insights about the opponent are only of limited value if the German team doesn’t quickly pull themselves out of the “low” of the Austria game. The awareness of having made up five goals in the final phase, another strong Andreas Wolff and the continued chance of reaching the semi-finals are at least a few factors that the team can use to pull themselves up.