Krimi without a happy ending, a damper on the medal dream: Germany's handball players have suffered their first setback on the way to a new winter fairy tale at the home European Championships. The team of national coach Alfred Gislason lost to Olympic champion France in Berlin after a self-sacrificing fight with 30:33 (15:17) and is now under pressure in the upcoming main round.
The German team put on a passionate performance with a lot of heart and, pumped up by the frenetic crowd, fought their way back into the game after a four-goal deficit. But in the exciting final phase there was a bit of a lack of cleverness and rip-off against France's stars around Nikola Karabatic. “We were in it at the end, but the French are very physically strong,” said Gislason on ARD: “We were a bit tired at the end. A great Andi Wolff in goal, but the French deserved to win.”
The best German thrower in the once again atmospheric Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin was playmaker Juri Knorr with eight goals. Even a number of saves from goalkeeper Andreas Wolff could not prevent the defeat. For the French, who, unlike the DHB team, took two points into the main round, Kentin Mahe scored most often (5 goals) in front of 13,571 spectators.
Instead of traveling to Cologne on Wednesday morning with their third European Championship victory in their luggage, as hoped, captain Johannes Golla and his teammates start the next phase of the tournament without any points. The first German opponent will be there on Thursday in the huge Lanxess Arena Iceland. In addition, the selection of the German Handball Federation (DHB) will face Austria (Saturday), Hungary (Monday) and Croatia (Wednesday) in the next tournament phase. Only the top two in the group of six reach the semi-finals.
“We need one of our best days in the defense and goalkeeping categories,” said Gislason on the ARD microphone immediately before kick-off: “The team is looking forward to this game and to showing what they can do.” The desire was unbridled DHB players can clearly feel it from the first second. Germany got off to a dream start and quickly led 3-0 after goals from Golla and Knorr. And when Wolff scratched Nikola Karabatic's French finish off the line after a Kempa trick with his fifth (!) save, the arena was completely upside down with the score at 4:1 (7th).
Germany continued to press the accelerator forward, but initially lacked grip on defense. France got into the game better and took the lead for the first time (7:6) thanks to a Karabatic hit into the empty goal.
As a result, a heated exchange developed with many fouls – and two outstanding keepers on the German side: Wolff repeatedly took away free balls, especially from the outside, and David Späth saved two seven-meter penalties, so that the German team even went seven minutes without scoring their own goal survived without damage. Two goals conceded immediately before the break meant Germany were behind at half-time.
“We start brilliantly, then we throw away a few too many balls,” complained DHB team manager Oliver Roggisch during the break and demanded: “We have to score goals from the backcourt, we can’t just play around the circle. Minus two, we’re actually better.”
But this time the French got off to a better start, with Dika Mem scoring 19:15 (33') and the German deficit was four goals for the first time. However, Germany remained active and fought their way to within one goal several times – until Knorr scored the redeeming equalizer at the beginning of crunch time.
The game became more emotional from minute to minute, the audience kept getting up and pushing the DHB selection forward. Kai Häfner gave Germany the first lead since the 27th minute at 26:25 (49th) and heralded a heated final phase. Wolff also continued to play well.
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