“Biggest game of my career”
“60 Brutal Minutes” against the giant and a curse
By Till Erdenberger, Sopot
01/24/2023 8:33 p.m
The German national handball team has not won a knockout game for almost seven years. The chances are not particularly good at this World Cup either, but they are there. The DHB team wants to give the giants France a big fight.
“Great, semifinals! I’m looking forward to it,” shouted Kai Häfner through Rio’s Future Arena. Back then, the future seemed rosy for the German national handball team, on August 17, 2016. The reigning European champions had just dismantled runners-up Qatar in the Olympic quarterfinals, it was 34:22 in the end. In addition to Häfner, Patrick Groetzki, Paul Drux and Andreas Wolff from the current DHB generation were there at the time – and together they are now fighting again against this knockout curse, which seems to have weighed on the team from Rio since this summer day.
Because since then there has not been a German victory in a knockout game. At the 2017 and 2021 World Cup and the 2018 and 2022 European Championships, the DHB team missed the knockout round completely, and at the 2019 home World Cup they clearly lost to Norway in the semifinals. 2021 ended in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics against Egypt. The 2016 bronze medalist has been working hard for years to return to the absolute top of the world.
“Dreamed of this game”
Now there is another chance to defeat the curse. “We dreamed of this game,” said playmaker Juri Knorr before the 75th duel with Olympic and record champions France. “I can promise that we will perform there again with a completely different energy. It may sound martial, but we have to play for our lives because of course we want to get through.” A win would keep the chance of the first World Cup medal since the 2007 triumph intact. In the stress test against Norway for the main round final, the inexperienced DHB squad had been shown their limits. When it came down to it, a sometimes wild game ultimately failed due to a lack of efficiency.
France, the Olympic champion and record world champion, with the ever-young superstar Nikola Karabatic, the outstanding director Kentin Mahé and the currently world’s best left-hander Dika Mem, are even more important than Norway. You need “a perfect game” to really endanger the experienced squad, said captain Johannes Golla. A German national handball team never managed to do that again at the decisive moment. “We have to approach the game with passion. We will take our hearts into our hands and make up for the lack of experience against the French with a fight,” announced Wolff, who was outstanding in this tournament like in 2016, and demanded: “In a game like this you have to don’t just go to the limit, but push your limits.” European champion Wolff expects “brutal 60 minutes of battle and emotion” in a duel with the six-time world champion.
The evidence is weak, but it is noticeable that the DHB class of 2023 at least has the potential to win something against a top team with a perfect performance. With five wins from the first five World Cup games, you had played yourself into a flow, in the first endurance test you delivered a big fight to the Norwegians, who are equipped with a lot of world class – although the German cover was holey in the first half and too many free in the attack balls were discarded. Golla spoke of the “weakest game in this tournament”. And backcourt player Christoph Steinert analyzed: “You don’t win a game at that level with 55 percent saved balls. Let’s put a few more things in front and play a bit more aggressive defense, then it will work against France.”
Sagosen ennobles Knorr in a special way
It would also be a perfect time for Juri Knorr to take the next step towards becoming a world-class playmaker. The son of former national player Thomas Knorr was five years old when he won the World Cup in 2007, and he spent the brilliant year of 2016 in the youth team of VfL Bad Schwartau. Today Knorr is right in the middle and shouldering the burden of the German attack. Against Norway, the highly gifted player kept his team almost alone in the game in the wild early phase, with 37 goals and assists each, the 22-year-old clearly leads the scorer list ahead of superstars such as Mikkel Hansen (so far 58 points), Jim Gottfridsson (55) and Sander Sagosen ( 53) on.
He scored eight times against Norway – and received a very special award: Sagosen, one of the best players in the world, provoked the German playmaker in a hectic, hard-fought final phase until he was carried away to a nudge. Sagosen fell theatrically, but Knorr was allowed to remain on the field. “It’s give and take on the field,” Sagosen said with a laugh about the situation to “Viaplay” after the game. The backcourt player added: “In such a crucial phase, we try to sell what needs to be sold.”
“Right time for a damper”
Knorr has long been identified as the key player in German attacking play. The director of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen should finally make the difference again between “nearly failed” and “nearly won”. Too often it wasn’t quite enough when it mattered. Most recently last Monday against Norway, where the narrow defeat brought them the “toughest possible opponent” (national coach Alfred Gislason). It’s a learning process for the Gislason team. Knorr also had to learn: “You can see that at 22 you get a little out of step. In the next scene he starts fighting with Sander Sagosen. That might not happen to him next time,” analyzed world champion Dominik Small in the ARD.
Despite all the noticeable disappointment, they quickly reinterpreted the Norway bankruptcy with a view to the great opportunity against France: “I think it was the right time for a small setback, so that you realize that none of this is going to be a sure-fire success”, said goalkeeper Wolff, who was one of the last in the squad to win a knockout game with the DHB team. And Knorr, the young director, who is supposed to bring German handball back to the top of the world, is looking forward to “probably the biggest game of my career. I’m sure we’ll show a different face and give everything. Many of us had I haven’t had a chance to play for medals on the World Cup stage yet,” said Knorr, promising: “We’ll be there.”