At the beginning of the World Cup group phase, the DHB team had shaky performances. Reason for concern? After all, the team showed quality that could be decisive in the end.
Nils Kögler reports from Denmark
It was already the 55th minute when things got really loud for the first time in the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, Denmark. When left winger Lukas Mertens carefully stole the ball from the Swiss five minutes before the end, completed the counterattack himself to make it 29:27 and thus finally put his team on the road to victory, the DHB supporters freely shouted their joy and relief.
Of the over 7,000 spectators who watched the World Cup preliminary round game between the German national handball team and Switzerland live, a clear majority wore the black, red and gold colors and were eager to give the Germans a home game atmosphere.
However, national coach Alfred Gislason’s team initially didn’t offer them much reason to celebrate. It was only in the last ten minutes that the Germans managed to take control of the game and bring home the victory. The World Cup opener against Poland and the two test matches against Brazil had already followed a similar course. Instead of fear, this can also give fans of the DHB selection hope. The team seems to have developed a killer instinct. It could be the key in the fight for the title.
Anyone who has followed the German team’s last games will have recognized a striking pattern: all games were characterized by a very mixed, even sleepy start. Too many missed throws in front of the goal, numerous technical errors and even gaps in the coverage, which the Swiss coach Andy Schmid described as the best in the world before his duel with the DHB team, characterized the games.
“The lightness is there, but not from the start,” said right winger Lukas Zerbe, analyzing the German team’s performance after the thriller win against Switzerland. “It seems a bit cramped at the beginning,” says Zerbe.
At the same time, the 29-year-old also drew attention to another constant: in the final phase of the games, the so-called “crunch time”, the DHB team was always there. In some cases, a deficit of several goals could be turned into a win in the final ten to 15 minutes of a game. “Nevertheless, we are back in crunch time and the team knows what they can do,” Zerbe summed it up.
This means that the performances are in complete contrast to expectations from last year. At the home European Championship, for example, the DHB team held its own for a long time against strong opponents such as Croatia, Denmark and Sweden, but finally had to admit defeat in the decisive phase of the game. That’s another reason why it wasn’t enough to make a big splash in the end.
The team presented a similar picture at the Olympic Games, where they ended up with a silver medal, national coach Gislason recalled after the second Brazil test. “Maybe that’s something we learned from the Olympics,” he said. They played well against teams like Sweden and France, but not in the last 15 minutes. “If it’s the other way around now, well,” Gislason speculated, then shrugged his shoulders meaningfully.
However, it didn’t seem like the 65-year-old really believed in his team’s killer instinct at the time. Dissatisfaction with the weak initial phases prevailed. Things were completely different after the win against Switzerland on Friday evening, at least for national team manager Benjamin Chatton. “I think the whole team as a whole has progressed in this regard by developing a crunch time mentality. I hope we keep that,” he said. Circular Justus Fischer also confirmed the day after the game: “It’s an enormous step that we have taken together as a team.”
“We have played ourselves into a flow where it is simply more natural that we are fully there even in crunch time,” said the only 21-year-old and attributed this to the increased self-confidence that the team has gained in the last two tournaments earned.