Sunday 16 January 2022
Later victory in the Austria thriller
DHB team has the main round as good as certain
Thriller against Austria: With the second win at the European Handball Championship in the second game, the DHB team is as good as in the main round, where the big chunks are waiting. The Austrian team kept up for a long time, Alfred Gislason’s team was only able to break away late.
Second game, second win: The German handball players have digested their Corona shock well and are looking to enter the main round of the European Championship. The DHB team of national coach Alfred Gislason also beat Austria with 34:29 (15:16) in the second preliminary round game, but needed a real effort one day after Julius Kühn’s positive test result – and a very strong Till Klimpke in goal.
The tournament debutant showed a number of saves and led the German team on track. In addition, the DHB selection was extremely accurate in attack and pulled the tooth out of the unpleasant opponent from the neighboring country after the break. Right winger Timo Kastening became the best thrower on Sunday evening in Bratislava with nine goals. A draw at the end of the preliminary round against Poland on Tuesday (6 p.m. / ZDF) is already enough for Johannes Golla and Co. to enter the hot phase of the tournament. The first two teams of all six preliminary round groups qualify for the main round.
In front of 1485 spectators, who created a heated atmosphere in the Ondreja Nepelu Arena, the DHB team gradually pulled away after the break. At the start of the tournament on Friday, Germany showed a promising performance against Belarus, beating Belarus 33:29 – and only then fully convinced after the break. Before the game, Kühn’s positive PCR test caused a stir. Gislason found it “not difficult” to focus on the Austria game due to the starting position in the preliminary round group D: “We have to follow up with more points,” demanded the DHB coach before starting on the ARD.
Defensive again a weak point
As at the start, the Icelander initially relied on Klimpke between the posts – and not on 2016 European champion Andreas Wolff. This time the plan with the youngster from HSG Wetzlar worked out well. Germany started extremely badly with a 0:3 (6th). But also thanks to strong saves by Klimpke, the two-time European champion quickly caught up. At 6:5 (11th) Germany was in front for the first time, after that a balanced encounter developed. As expected, Gislason distributed the forces: Even before the break, the veteran had used all the players in his 16-man squad except for Lukas Zerbe.
In general, as in the first game, Germany didn’t do well defensively at first, and even a more offensive cover system didn’t work in the first section. “Damn it, we’re crashing in the 3-2-1 defense,” Gislason mocked during his first time-out. Austria always scored easy goals through their star player Nikola Bilyk and the circle. “Till is great in goal, but we have to help him,” said team manager Oliver Roggisch at the break.
However, you could rely on the offensive engine, Germany hardly made any mistakes. In the left backcourt, Göppingen’s Sebastien Heymann Kühn replaced him very well with a great rate, and the wing players Kastening and Lukas Mertens were also immediately involved. When the defense stabilized after the change of sides, the inexperienced German team gradually pulled away. After the change of sides, there were at times five tournament newcomers on the field.