In 78 years of World Cup history, Italy is taking part for only the second time – and has made it into the main round for the first time. The Azzurri have won the hearts of Danish fans with enthusiastic, fun handball – this can be seen in the “final” against Germany on Thursday at 6 p.m. (Live ticker at sportschau.de) become the X factor. The starting position has final character: If Italy wins, the knockout round will take place in Norway without Germany.
Alfred Gislason’s protégés experienced first-hand that the “Hell of Herning” can escalate on Tuesday evening in the 30:40 debacle against the hosts in front of 15,000 spectators. Around an hour before the party kicked off, there was already a crazy party atmosphere in the hall: Italy had just delivered another top performance, clearly dominating the Czechs with 25:18 – and was frenetically celebrated by the red and white audience.
The Italian players then did the La Ola with the Danish fans, they did laps of honor. And the atmosphere really exploded again at the end when goalkeeper and crowd favorite Domenico Ebner came to the fore “Man of the Match” was chosen and thanked the Danes again with bows and applause.
“Just goosebumps”
In the sports show podcast “Handball auf die 1”, the native of Freiburg with Italian roots relives these magical moments: “It was just pure goosebumps, even when the Italians clapped along to our national anthem. But even in games before, it was crazy to trigger such euphoria here. It’s simply a dream that we don’t want to wake up from.”
What the Danes obviously love about the Italians is their kinship. Both teams have a lot of fun playing handball, both have this very special mix of focus and relaxedness, and the Danes are of course in a completely different league. But Ebner, who has an Italian mother and only took on dual citizenship in 2017, personifies this type particularly visibly.
There has to be a party sometimes
After his saves (44 percent of balls saved against the Czech Republic) he always laughs from ear to ear, he then strolls leisurely to the bench while the next attack is underway and lets his colleagues celebrate extensively. With all the stress, there has to be a party sometimes – that’s what the 30-year-old Leipzig keeper exudes.
ARD expert Johannes Bitter knows the goalie from many duels and reveals a secret about “Ebo” in the podcast: “He annoyed me often enough in the Bundesliga. If he saved one or two balls, he was there too “I’ve always wanted to celebrate and I thought: Boy, now slowly put your arms down again!” Addressing Ebner directly, Bitter says: “Here comes the King of Italy! You’re just doing a great job. Italy is actually making this World Cup something special.” And it doesn’t have to be over yet.
The Danes play after the Italians
The game plan on Thursday is once again good for Italy: Denmark will then play against Switzerland, but the tickets are also valid for the Italy game. That’s why the hall is likely to be pretty full from 6 p.m. and national team manager Benjamin Chatton sees red: “Of course, we will also take into account in our preparation that we have another away game coming up. We have already noticed how the Italians have impressed the Danes so far.”
The sports show also asked Johannes Golla whether this scenario could have an impact on the German game. The Captain: “Sure, you can see that the Italians enjoy it, that it inspires them too. But we have already played in halls where 25,000 people were against us – so that doesn’t play a direct role for me.”
“On paper they have no chance”
Timo Kastening goes even further: “As far as I’m concerned, the Danes can totally celebrate it, I think that’s great! The main thing is that we have a really good atmosphere in the hall. And also with the Italian anthem, because I love that too.”
From a sporting perspective, Germany’s new seven-meter shooter (hit five out of six against Denmark) doesn’t want to be blinded by all the hype. Boxing cool: “Italy has a strong team – but on paper they have no chance against us. We have the broader squad, we have the better individual players, we are double or triple good in every position. If we do our job with concentration, then Neither the fans nor the fact that it’s a final has anything to do with us.”