Mission accomplished, dream of gold comes true: Led by their outstanding goalkeeper David Späth, Germany’s U21 handball players won the title at their home World Cup.
The German team deservedly defeated Hungary 30:23 (14:11) in the final and thus ascended the World Cup throne in youth handball for the first time in 13 years. After 2009 and 2011, it is the third World Cup title for a German junior selection in the male U21 area.
Man of the evening in front of 8235 spectators in the sold-out Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin was again Späth. The goalkeeper of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen made a number of spectacular saves and, as an emotional leader, tore the audience from their seats.
The most successful German throwers were line runners Justus Fischer and Elias Scholtes, each with six goals. The fans sang euphorically even before the final siren: “Oh, how nice it is.”
Perfect record at the Handball World Cup
Germany closed the tournament with a pristine white slate. The team of national coach Martin Heuberger won all of their eight World Cup games and always scored 30 goals or more. Iceland secured third place by beating Serbia 27:23 (13:13).
Hungary initially proved to be a very difficult opponent on Sunday and proved why they had won all of their seven World Cup matches up to and including the final. In addition, DHB captain Renars Uscins and Co. seemed a bit nervous after their brilliant performance in the semifinals against Serbia (40:30) and missed a number of great opportunities.
But after a restrained first half, the DHB juniors really turned up the heat in the second section. “You notice: With every single fiber they want to tear it today. With every single fiber,” judged Bob Hanning on the “Eurosport” microphone.
It was above all keeper Späth that the German team could rely on after a balanced opening quarter of an hour (5:5).
Späth scraped very important balls out of the corners at the back. And up front, the nimble Nils Lichtlein steered the DHB game with a lot of overview and scored himself when it was necessary. When back court player Scholtes increased the lead to 14:11 with the siren, the arena was upside down for the first time.
German attack gets rolling after the break
After the break, the German attack really got rolling. With speed play par excellence, the DHB-Express increased to 17:12 within two and a half minutes. And when Hungary came back to three goals a little later, Späth sailed right through his box again – and kept balls in a row.
Winning the title was also the perfect conclusion to the past two weeks for the German Handball Federation (DHB). 140,000 spectators at the German venues in Hanover, Magdeburg and Berlin are “more fans than we expected,” said DHB CEO Mark Schober at a press conference in Berlin.
On Sunday, he even described the sold-out Max-Schmeling-Halle as “sensational. We are told from all sides that this World Cup is unique.”