Germany beats North Macedonia and reaches the main round of the European Handball Championship

Es had given the well-known warnings from national coach Alfred Gislason, and captain Johannes Golla had reminded that the dream start to the record game in Düsseldorf would only be good for something if the strong North Macedonians were now defeated. The truth about this opponent lay in a much less frightening area – on Sunday evening the German national handball team easily won 34:25 (18:13) against the Southeast Europeans and has already reached the main round in Cologne.

Before we continue with at least four games from Thursday, the “final” of this Group A awaits on Tuesday evening against France (8.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Handball Championship, on ARD and on Dyn). It's far more than a meaningless last appearance, because the points from this duel will be taken home. And the French have not yet finally qualified after their surprising draw against Switzerland.

Sometimes faulty

The journey through the home European Championship can therefore continue towards the hoped-for semi-finals. It was pleasing that Gislason was able to move the entire squad and give the frequent players Juri Knorr, Julian Köster and Johannes Golla some long breaks. “We were able to distribute the load well in these two games,” said the national coach, visibly satisfied with this start to the European Championship.

Knorr stood out with clever direction and ten goals from twelve attempts – his performance must also have pleased the watching Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Overall, it was an evening with lively, but sometimes flawed Germans. But North Macedonia lacked the quality to punish this. The energy, cohesion and joy of playing in the German team seemed like a mixture that could also survive the upcoming stress tests.

That was already the case in the first round. When Knorr's seven-meter penalty made it 16:9 in the 25th minute, a brilliant first half emerged. A lot was right up front, even though the regular left-hander Kai Häfner wasn't there – the veteran had become a father for the second time on Friday and stayed at home in Stuttgart.

Junior world champion Renars Uscins played for him in the right back. Even without Häfner, the otherwise usual first seven started the game convincingly. It was 9:4 in the 14th minute after Jannik Kohlbacher's goal; The Germans countered North Macedonia's slow pace with quick attacks orchestrated by Knorr – which could have ended even more successfully had it not been for three sloppy attempts by Köster. After a foul, Köster sat on the bench and made room for Sebastian Heymann, and after the next hard intervention, Uscins also took a break. Tournament debutant Nils Lichtlein came in for him.

Gislason gets loud

Despite the changes, the joy of playing always remained visible. All that was missing was a little more help from the very back – goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, who was greeted with loud cheers, only took the balls out of the net this time, in contrast to the famous first game. David Späth replaced him in the 23rd minute, but initially didn't touch much.

So the 18:13 at the break felt like too small a lead given this superiority. It wasn't Knorr's fault: his seven goals were a convincing result. But the German team failed to send the North Macedonians, who had competed with some former Bundesliga professionals, into the locker room with a hopeless deficit.

Their attacks remained for patient people. The ball circled for 70 or 80 seconds. Their presentation was a little spicier in the 7:6 variant, but it also resulted in a hit into the empty goal by Timo Kastening. The DHB selection made life difficult again after the good start to the second half and the 21:13 lead in the 34th minute – something is always possible against this team; This time the Macedonians scored three goals in a row. The score was already 22:17 (39th minute).

Gislason's timeout and speech were fruitful: Offensive defense with Köster at the front, Justus Fischer for Golla at the circle – when the score was 26:18 in the 43rd minute, the German fans were able to join the 13,600 people in the relatively low-spirited arena in the Friedrichshain district get ready to cheer. A number of Späth's parades, which he enthusiastically cheered, also contributed to this.

Philipp Weber was now at the center and North Macedonia's resistance faded, as it had in their first game on Wednesday against France. Gislason got his bench going; With powerful actions, Sebastian Heymann became the backcourt player of the last quarter of an hour.

And the seven-meter save by Späth in the 50th minute woke up the slumbering hall once again. Shouts of “Germany, Germany” and anticipation for the group final on Tuesday evening against France: their 26:26 against Switzerland earlier in the evening also puts them under a little pressure for the evergreen duel against the German selection.