For the three flu patients Juri Knorr, Rune Dahmke and Lukas Stutzke, the elevated temperature is slowly subsiding, but everyone in the DHB team is now looking forward to Portugal.
“I think we will be very, very hot for the quarterfinals”says Marko Grgic, for example, before the showdown on Wednesday (January 29, 2025, 8:30 p.m., live on Erste, in the stream and in the live ticker). The backcourt shooter, who scored eleven goals in the 31:19 win against Tunisia, also sees parallels with his quarter-final opponent.
“I like the way the Portuguese play. I can see us in there a bit too”says the Eisenacher enthusiastically. “They’re also a team with a lot of young, hungry players and sometimes a bit wild – like us. And they always want to go at a high pace.”
Portugal should only be the start
He says about his team’s chances: “I have a very good feeling. With five wins from six games you can start the knockout round very well.” Start, mind you – the Portugal game is only supposed to be the start of a big final week of the tournament in Oslo, Norway.
The goal machine of the 2025 World Cup: Portugal
However: In order to reach the desired semi-finals, the German defense in particular will have to work hard. The goal machine with the highest production so far in this World Cup is actually not Denmark, nor France and certainly not Croatia. But Portugal with 179 goals – 24 more than Germany.
The Portuguese had the most balanced main round group with five teams that had hopes of reaching the knockout round. But top-class handball players such as Norway, Sweden and Spain are now watching on television as the team around the world-class brothers Francisco and Martim will certainly not go into Wednesday’s match as blatant outsiders.
Pereira does it differently than Gislason
The approach of the two trainers in their respective dress rehearsals was very interesting. Given the completely overwhelmed opponent from Chile and one day less rest than Germany, Paulo Pereira could easily have afforded to rest his stars. But Portugal simply pulled through and won by 18 goals (46:28). The Costa brothers apparently didn’t feel like taking a break and once again shared 15 goals: “Kiko” scored nine times, Martim six times.
Alfred Gislason, however, saw the Tunisia match as part of the rehabilitation program for his frequent players. The national coach left Johannes Golla, Renārs Uščins and Julian Köster out completely, and in the second half Luca Witzke only watched from the bench.
“We also know what we can do”
Witzke should now be well rested, but hopefully still at operating temperature. The Leipzig player sees his upcoming opponent in a similar way to Grgic, and he is also a fan of the Portuguese style of play: “They’re playing a great tournament, always going at a tremendous pace. It’s definitely going to be tough – but I’m really looking forward to it.”
Captain Golla sees a team rolling towards Germany “is completely in flow”. But the captain also says: “We’re looking forward to the challenge.” Keeper David Späth doesn’t want to underestimate Portugal, but he puts the hype surrounding one of the big World Cup surprises into perspective a little: “We have respect for every opponent. But we also know what we can do.”