GSupported by a world record crowd of 53,586 fans, Germany's handball players achieved the hoped-for opening victory at the European Championships and thus the first step towards the main round. The DHB selection outclassed Switzerland 27:14 (13:8) in Düsseldorf on Wednesday evening and fueled hopes of a successful tournament with a refreshing performance.
At the spectacular opening of the final round, national coach Alfred Gislason's team impressed over long stretches and in some cases already spread the shine they had hoped for. DHB sports director Axel Kromer was correspondingly relieved, for whom the success was the right gift for his 47th birthday. “It was a relief to me that the team acted so stably. That’s what we’ve been working towards,” Kromer said.
Quickly found the rhythm
The winner's best thrower was director Juri Knorr from cup winners Rhein-Neckar Löwen with six goals. On Thursday, the German team travels to Berlin as leaders of Group A, where the second preliminary round game against outsiders North Macedonia is on Sunday and the cracker against record world champions France next Tuesday. The Olympic champion started the tournament with an easy 39:29 (17:13) win against the North Macedonians. The first two teams reach the main round.
“It will be overwhelming when we arrive here and the national anthem is played,” predicted captain Johannes Golla before kick-off. And there was actually a goosebumps atmosphere in the football stadium of the second division club Fortuna Düsseldorf, which was specially converted into a handball arena for the start of the European Championship.
The German team also contributed to this, as they quickly found their rhythm after a nervous start and were ahead by four goals for the first time at 7:3 in the middle of the first half. The national coach had predicted the day before: “The closer the kick-off gets, the greater the tension will be.”
Wolff excels in goal
There was little sign of this in the DHB selection, which was able to rely on an outstanding Andreas Wolff between the posts right from the start. The 32-year-old world-class goalkeeper was a great source of support and gave those in front of him the security they needed with numerous saves. For this, the goalkeeper from the top Polish club Industria Kielce was repeatedly celebrated by the fans with chants and was given a standing ovation when he was substituted ten minutes before the end.
The defense also stood like a bulwark that the Swiss were only rarely able to crack. As a result, the German team kept the Swiss at bay until the break, although not everything went as planned in the attack. A few technical errors and a number of missed opportunities prevented the team from taking an even bigger lead at half-time.
“It's great when over 50,000 people shout Germany, Germany. That’s what the boys were hoping for,” Kromer praised the loud crowd during the break. This inspired the German team even after the change. After 47 minutes the lead increased to ten goals for the first time at 20:10. Long before the final whistle, the enthusiastic spectators were singing “Oh, how beautiful that is”.
With their successful performance, the DHB team created handball fever right at the start of the tournament, which is expected to last until the final day on January 28th. “This is an opportunity to make the sport even better known than it already is,” said DHB boss Andreas Michelmann about the first European Championships in Germany and added: “We hope for even more resonance for the sport and want that carry a positive image to the population.” The first step towards this has been taken.
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