With a strong David Späth in goal and an unleashed second half, the German handball players easily won their last preliminary round game of the Handball World Cup with 29:22 (11:11) against the Czech Republic. In the main round, top favorites and hosts Denmark await on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old from the Rhein-Neckar Löwen stopped an outstanding 14 of the 30 shots at his goal, fended off a seven-meter shot and even scored into the empty Czech goal to make it 19:14. Consequently, Späth was voted player of the game.
The German team, which had problems offensively in the first half, finally got into their tempo game thanks to Späth’s saves and was able to pull away decisively. Andreas Woff, who was still the decisive man against Switzerland, was not a factor this time and after 13 minutes made way for Späth, who set Germany on fire with his saves and typical emotional outbursts.
Speed and emotions thanks to Späth’s parades
“That’s no surprise to me, that’s part of it,” said Späth to his loud cheers, which also carried away the German fans in Herning. “We had a bit of a hard time at the beginning. But we see that when we finally get rolling, we’re hard to hold on to.”
This will have to be proven on Tuesday when the 2024 Olympic final takes place again. Germany will face World Cup hosts Denmark (live on Erste and on sportschau.de), both teams are still unbeaten and the favorites to reach the quarter-finals in Group I of the main round. Germany’s other opponents are Italy (Thursday, January 23rd) and Tunisia (Saturday, January 25th).
German usury of chances in the 1st half
“The Danes are by far the best team in the world,” said national coach Alfred Gislason after the win against the Czech Republic. “If we handle the chances against Denmark like we did today, then the game will be over quickly. It’s difficult enough with a very good number of throws.”
As in the first group games against Poland and Switzerland, the DHB team missed a number of open throws, including three seven-meter penalties. A meager eleven goals were scored after 30 minutes. “At the break there was almost sarcasm from us that we can only seem to play the second half,” said Gislason.
After all, his team has only conceded eleven goals to date. The national coach responded to the previous defensive performances with a tactical change in coverage. The inside block duo was made up of Hannover-Burgdorf teammates Justus Fischer and Lukas Stutzke, instead of Julian Köster and Johannes Golla. The captain initially remained on the bench.
In the run-up to the game there was more talk about the goalkeeping duel between the Kiel teammates: Andi Wolff against Tomáš Mrkva. And the Czech number one scored twice from the penalty mark at the start of the game – first against Lukas Zerbe (4th), then against Marko Grgić (5th).
Germany is having a hard time finishing at the start
On the other hand, Wolff, who had been so strong in the tournament so far, rarely got his fingers on the ball, left the field after a save on seven throws and made room for David Späth (13th). One minute into the game, he parried freely against Tomáš Babák – and Lukas Zerbe scored into the empty goal to make it 6:6 (15th).
Then the “experiment” in the German inner block was over and Gislason sent captain Golla onto the field for the first time. Alongside Julian Köster (VfL Gummersbach), the man from SG Flensburg-Handewitt was supposed to stabilize the defense and keep the strong backcourt shooters in check.
Knorr shines as a scorer and as a passer
In attack, Juri Knorr almost single-handedly kept the DHB team in the game, shining as a goalscorer, but also with great passes. First he found Mertens (22nd), then Golla (23rd), but both failed because of the strong Mrkva in the opponent’s goal. Luckily for the German team, their goalkeeper change also paid off. David Späth parried four of the nine shots at his goal and had 44 percent of balls saved at the break.
Mrkva started the second half just like the first – with a seven-meter save against the previously strong Knorr (31st). At the front, Renārs Uščins (5 out of 5), who had been error-free to date, brought his colors back into the lead 12:11 (33rd) to great cheers in the hall.
DHB team comes out of the break with power
The German defense played much more aggressively and put the Czechs in a time crunch with almost every attack. Symbolic: First Köster celebrated his third block, then the Gummersbach player scored the first three-goal lead (16:13). Even a punch in the face from Czech Republic’s Jakub Šterba didn’t stop the backcourt left-winger, the second division professional from ASV Hamm-Westphalia saw the red card.
In this phase it was David Späth who set the hall and the German game on fire in the 40th minute. After his save, the U21 world champion hit the entire field into the empty goal to take the lead 19:14. This meant that the resistance of the Czechs, who also qualified, seemed to crumble for the first time. The DHB team played into a flow, switched around and also allowed young players like Marko Grgic (three goals) and Nils Lichtlein (two) to experience success.
Uščins with great odds
The best German thrower was Renārs Uščins with eight goals from ten throw attempts; the 22-year-old now leads the top scorer list at the Handball World Cup with 24 goals.
This means that the handball players will take the maximum score of four points into the main round and will play next Tuesday against top favorites and defending champions Denmark.