With anticipation and confidence, the German handball players in Hanover begin their preparations for the World Cup. The training camp is all about fine-tuning.
Alfred Gislason was in a particular hurry. The national coach of the German handball team set off from Reykjavik at four in the morning on New Year’s Day to Hanover, where preparations for the World Cup will begin this Monday (January 2nd, 2023). “I’m really looking forward to working with the team and to a tournament where everything will again be decided on the field.”said Gislason. The team wants a year before the home EM “Already perform convincingly and achieve a good placement.”
Refinement in attack and defense
The 63-year-old Icelander, who spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve with his family in his home country, has ten days to prepare the DHB selection for the finals in Poland and Sweden. “First and foremost it’s about fine-tuning in attack and defence. To minimize misunderstandings, we’ll try to make a little progress every day and come to a common denominator in terms of different tactics. We don’t have much time, but we want to use it effectively”Gislason announced the route for the World Cup course.
Embedded in the preparation are two international matches against Iceland, sixth in the European Championship, next weekend in Bremen and Hanover. The two endurance tests are very convenient for Gislason: “It’s ideal for us. We’ll know where we stand afterwards.”
The goal is the quarterfinals
After finishing seventh at the chaotic European Championship last year, where there were 18 positive corona cases in the German team, Gislason is aiming at least for the quarter-finals with his protégés at the World Cup tournament. He doesn’t want to talk about a medal. No wonder, since the last precious metal so far was six and a half years ago. Bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
“You can always hope for something in sport. It would be nice if we could give the fans a medal. But we are not in a position to say that as a goal because we are not among the favourites.”said Gislason, demanding: “We mustn’t dream, we have to be realistic and concentrate on the preliminary round matches.”
Mistakes in the preliminary round undesirable
In Group E, the opponents are Qatar, Serbia and Algeria. “Our goal is to win the group”emphasized the national coach: “It’s important to take as many points as possible into the main round because we want to get to the knockout stage. If you fail in the preliminary round, it’s hard to make up for it.”
He himself approaches the task with great anticipation and confidence, as he has identified a positive mood and a strong team spirit among his protégés. “We have a very good team”Gislason praised his 18 World Championship drivers: “Everyone is dying to play for Germany.” That hasn’t always been the case in recent years. There were often a number of rejections. This time, only backcourt player Fabian Wiede from Bundesliga leader Füchse Berlin voluntarily waived a nomination because of a jaw operation.
Only players in good form
At the World Cup, the national coach only relies on players who are fit and have been in good form in their clubs. For Julius Kühn, Marcel Schiller and Lukas Stutzke, who were injured for a long time in the autumn, there was therefore no place in the squad, which, according to DHB sports director Axel Kromer, has a lot of quality. “This squad reflects many characteristics: experience, potential and, essentially, a certain continuity that is essential for success.”Kromer said.
Now Gislason only has to put the individual pieces of the puzzle together on the floor. “I think we’ve developed well in attack over the past few months. We make fewer mistakes and play better together. The decisive factor will be: how do we do it in defence?”he said.
Wanting to be “proud of our performance”
He will work intensively on this with the team before heading to the preliminary round venue in Katowice on January 12th. Gislason’s World Cup wish: “I hope that by the end of January we can say we played a really good tournament and that we can be proud of our performance no matter where we are.”