Germany will meet at the European Handball Championship on Saturday (January 20, 2024, live in the first, in Live stream and here in the radio report) in the second game of the main round against the Austrians. They are the most surprising thing so farteam of the tournament.
The DHB had against Icelandteam came out on top in a hard-fought, close game, but made far too many mistakes on offense. National coach Alfred Gislason had made more changes than usual and some young players like Martin Hanne were able to compete in a hot duel at the top level.level collect important minutes.
The fact that the game against vicious Icelanders didn’t go so smoothly at the front and that various clear shooting opportunities from the circle, the seven-meter point or outside were missed could be positively sold as a “learning effect”. In the analysis after the game, Gislason also said that these experiences had benefited his team “accomplished extremely much” would have. This promised learning effect will also be needed against the next opponent.
Austria has already surprised everyone
The Germans went into this tournament with high expectations – in their own country they were already dreaming of the semi-finals before the tournament began – which is somewhat logical, at the last World Cup they ended up fifth. Such expectations can sometimes unsettle an inexperienced team. These are problems that the next opponent of the DHBteams not at all in the main round.
One of the reasons why the Austrians are so dangerous is that they have long since reached and even exceeded their target. Hardly anyone would have bet that coach Ales Pajovic’s team would survive the preliminary group and leave Spain behind. It is even less likely that the Austrians would still be unbeaten in the tournament and on course for the semi-finals after the first match day in the main round.
“We took a point from Spain and Croatia in the preliminary round and now two points from a very strong Hungarian team. If we don’t keep riding the wave, then I don’t know what will. Nobody needs to be motivated anymore.”said right winger Robert Weber after the Austrians’ narrow win against Hungary on Thursday evening. And Germany too Keeper Andreas Wolff wrote one to the Austrians “absolutely Hype“ to and called her that “team the hour”.
Strong team spirit helps in close games
The clear opening success against harmless Romanians was followed by them draw against Spain and Croatia and the narrow success against the Hungarians. Nikola Bilyk and Co. were relatively clearly behind at the beginning against both Croatia and Hungary, but fought their way back in and always had good tactical answers. In addition, their German neighbors had the necessary determination in the tight final phases – the Team spirit It’s what makes the team special, say Bundesliga professionals Bilyk (Kiel) and Lemgo’s Lukas Hutecek. From various videos from the cabin you can see that this is probably true – and they can also sing together.
It is precisely these two who have stood out from the team’s unity so far. Both have to play a lot and form the left backcourt and the middle of the backcourt. They are the best scorers with seven-meter shooter Weber.
Attack: 7th field player and the duo Bilyk/Hutecek
The Hungarians zeroed in on the duo at the start of the game. The Austrians almost always played the ball directly to Bilyk in attack, who then approached his opponent with his dynamism, looked for a duel or passed the ball to the middle, where Hutecek repeatedly looked for the finish. Sometimes the Austrians also cleared on the right side. But because the half-right position didn’t pose much of a goal threat, and sometimes they even played with the right-hander Markus Mahr, the Hungarians were able to prepare for the game.
Coach Pajovic then relied more on the seventh additional field player, as was the case against Spain. Because there were now two pivots in attack, including the extremely beefy Tobias Wagner, keeping the defenders busy, Bilyk and Hutecek had more space for their actions again – and their courage was rewarded. The duo scored 14 of the 30 goals.
DHB team needs danger from the backcourt
In defense, the Austrians are very hard-working and agile, similar to the Icelanders, who also annoyed the Germans. But they had problems especially against the Hungarians against the combination of physical pivots and powerful throws from the backcourt. It could help for the DHB, as national coach Alfred Gislason has already called for several times, to radiate more danger from the backcourt in order to give Johannes Golla more space in the circle. For example, it could be a game for the powerful Sebastian Heymann.
What was also crucial for Austria’s defensive performance so far was that they had real support between the posts in Constantin Möstl. The 23-year-old was a decisive factor in the second half against the Hungarians with several saved free throws.
Little change – Achievers at the limit?
In addition to the lower goal threat from the right back, which is similar for the Germans, the team’s biggest weakness is probably its squad depth. Hutecek admits: “We’re all very much at our limits. We have a rather smaller rotation.” In a tournament in which there is a game every other day and in view of the fact that the Austrians now had the third game in a row in which their top performers had to play almost completely, strength reserves may soon become a bigger issue for them as the tournament progresses .
When strength dwindles, additional motivation can sometimes help – and everyone who is asked about it is looking forward to the game against Germany. They have nothing to lose anyway and these “a certain relaxedness that characterizes us and with which we will continue through the tournament”as former Bundesliga player Weber calls it, makes the Austrians particularly dangerous on Saturday.