EThere are really strange constellations at this European Championship. A German backcourt with Lukas Stutzke, Julian Köster and David Schmidt – that required a lot of imagination. And yet the national handball team played against Norway, third in the 2020 European Championship, on Friday evening in this line-up. Nobody would have thought of Daniel Rebmann as goalkeeper before the corona virus was rampant in the German camp.
But the means of this hardly coordinated team are limited, the backcourt remains harmless. With all will and struggle – at the highest level that’s not enough. National coach Alfred Gislason’s team also lost the second main round game in Bratislava, this time 23:28. This means that the semi-finals on Friday in Budapest are a long way off and can only be reached with outside help.
Gislason tried a lot and Norway barely reached the usual standard. That was enough against the Germans who were thrown together. At 17:22 in the 46th minute, the DHB had already bitten its teeth on the world-class defense. In the end it was a hopeless fight – but how the 21-year-old Köster or Christoph Steinert threw themselves into it had fascinating moments. “We fought for every goal until the last moment,” said goalkeeper Johannes Bitter.
The daily bulletin revealed: No further corona cases in the German team. Julius Kühn, theoretically ready for action again on Thursday, continued to pause – his PCR test from Friday remained positive. So it is by no means a matter of course that players will return after five days and a thorough cardiological examination. After all, Gislason had the same squad in action as in the harsh 23:29 against Spain; unfamiliar consistency for the Icelandic director of German improvisational theatre.
This time, too, contacts among the Germans outside of the arena were reduced to a minimum – they don’t even shower together. After the game sweaty in the bus, the 700 meters to the team hotel. The opponent analysis was also done in isolation via video conference.
The Norwegian coach Christian Berge happily made changes without the performance suffering. Superstar Sander Sagosen was overly motivated and sat on the bench a lot. As in the Spain game, the Germans were at a disadvantage when it came to cleverness, quarreling with the referees and balls that didn’t bounce towards them – but heads stayed high and the 500 German fans in the Ondrej Nepela Arena celebrated their team. “We have paid a little lesson,” said the DHB coach. “I’m still proud of my boys, they gave everything and never gave up.”
The day started with the explanation for the DHB’s hesitation in withdrawing from this European Championship. The consequences would have been draconian: “According to our legal system, leaving the tournament would have meant a suspension of the nation, i.e. no participation in a World Cup qualification and difficult circumstances with regard to the EM 2024,” said Martin Hausleitner, Secretary General of the European Handball Association, and further: “There would also have been economic consequences where we would have been obliged to demand them.” Such severe consequences made the withdrawal from the DHB point of view impossible.
.
#Strongwilled #harmless #Germanys #handball #players #lose #Norway