The international match against Sweden will be a touchstone for the German handball players. However, injuries disturb national coach Alfred Gislason in the preparation for the World Cup.
More than 8000 spectators in the hall, the European champions as guests and the World Cup in the back of his mind – Alfred Gislason can hardly wait for the first international match in 180 days. “We are very happy”said the national coach of the German handball team before the duel with Sweden on Thursday (October 13th, 2022) at 7 p.m. in Mannheim.
The recent failures of left-hander Fabian Wiede and circle player Jannik Kohlbacher also dampened the Icelander’s mood, but the endurance test against the world-class opponent should still bring important insights with a view to the World Cup in Poland and Sweden (January 11th to 29th).
First against Sweden, then against Spain
“I’m expecting an exciting game. We want to enjoy it and do everything we can to get on well in attack and defence.”said Gislason. The second test will follow on Saturday (October 15th, 2022) in Jaen, Andalusia, against Olympic bronze medalist Spain (in the live stream on sportschau.de from 8:10 p.m.).
Gislason wants to use every second in the World Cup countdown. Only four games remain until the start of the World Cup in January. Four fine-tuning games. Four games to find the right 18 handball players for the World Cup mission. In the goal, the DHB coach laid down on Wednesday – almost certainly – the duo of Andreas Wolff and Till Klimpke. “Usually this duo is pretty much set for the World Cup”said Gislason.
No time for experiments
On the field, however, the competition is still in full swing, even though Gislason once again emphasized: “We don’t have much time for experiments.” The trainer fox hopes to finally get through the fourth major tournament of his tenure without corona turbulence. The medium-term goal of the selection of the German Handball Federation (DHB) is the home European Championship 2024 in Germany. But already at the World Cup Gislason wants to see the next playful step.
This means, among other things: a better switching game. Gislason relies on complete and young players. If possible, there should be no more switching between attack and cover. “It’s better to work with few defense specialists,” confirmed Gislason during the course in Frankfurt/Main.
“Every failure is an opportunity for another player to shine”
The 63-year-old does not like the fact that Wiede is one of the central players in Gislason’s mind games after a training accident. “Obviously it’s a shame for our system, but every failure is an opportunity for another player to shine.” In Wiede’s case, the nominated returnee Franz Semper has this opportunity.
Moaning is not Gislason’s character trait anyway – and all teams are struggling with injury worries in the EHF EURO Cup, where Germany, Sweden and Spain are joined by world champion Denmark as the fourth team already qualified for the European Championship. Germany therefore wants to play for victory in the 111th international duel with Sweden. “Of course, the result matters”, emphasized Gislason. And DHB sports director Axel Kromer added: “We will never go into a game and say the result doesn’t matter. You never play handball just for fun, especially not in the national team.”