live blog
The German handball players are clear outsiders against world champions Denmark in the European Championship semi-finals on Friday. Here you can find all the news about the game in the live blog.
Wolff vs. Landin plus Nielsen
That’s how good Denmark is: Two-time world handball player Niklas Landin, who was active at THW Kiel for eight years until last summer, hasn’t really had to prove his world class yet. His replacement Emil Nielsen, who was in great form at times, received more playing time. The German players are drawing some hope from Landin’s “cold start”.
“They have two of the best goalkeepers in the world. The best one may not be in a good mood at the moment. Maybe we can beat them because we have the better odds, the better goalkeeper.”said left-hander Christoph Steinert. The Danish television station TV2 described DHB goalkeeper Andreas Wolff as “Germany’s Niklas Landin and Emil Nielsen in one person”.
4:44 p.m
Five German candidates for the all-star team
Andreas Wolff, Johannes Golla, Juri Knorr, Timo Kastening – and twice Julian Köster: five German national players can hope to be nominated for the all-star team at the European Handball Championships. Goalkeeper Wolff, pivot Golla, playmaker Knorr, right winger Kastening and backfield leftist Köster are on the shortlist for the prestigious election of the European Handball Federation (EHF). Köster also has the chance to be recorded as the best defensive player in the tournament. The 23-year-old from Gummersbach is one of the six candidates proposed by the EHF on Thursday based on the performances shown in the tournament so far.
4:00 p.m
Hoping for “this one day”
Germany’s handball players start the European Championship semi-finals against title favorites Denmark with enormous respect. “It’s no secret that the Danes play the most beautiful, best and most effective handball. But it will be a great challenge. They should first show how good they are”said backcourt player Philipp Weber aggressively. If the DHB selection wants to achieve the handball miracle on Friday, they need a perfect day. “We lose nine out of ten games against the Danes. But no one knows when that day will be”said Weber hopefully.
3:11 p.m
Germany is a clear outsider
Denmark is runner-up at the Olympics and recently won the handball world championship three times in a row. The Danes are the clear favorites against the German handball players on Friday (8.30 p.m., live on ZDF and in the audio stream on sportschau.de) – even if the last European title was a while ago. The Danes last became European handball champions in 2012. With the German team, the Danes supposedly have the easiest semi-final opponent if you look at their performances in the tournament so far.