Monday, December 20, 2021
Corona, family, not in the mood?
The flood of cancellations annoys handball legends
When Alfred Gislason presents his squad for the European Handball Championship, the national coach will also have to talk about those who are not there. Because the group of those missing is prominent and the reasons for the refusals are diverse. Two old stars have a clear opinion.
Fabian Wiede? Waived for private reasons. Yuri Knorr? Don’t want to get vaccinated. Paul Drux? Doesn’t feel fit enough after an injury. Hendrik Pekeler? Takes a longer break from the national team. Patrick Groetzki? Will be dad again. The many cancellations for the European handball championship presented national coach Alfred Gislason with a tricky task when nominating the squad this Tuesday and triggered a debate on values about the DHB selection.
In view of the often cited private reasons, Axel Kromer, sports director of the German Handball Federation, sometimes misses the necessary enthusiasm for the national team among the players. “Absences from home are not tolerated as in other nations,” said Kromer the pay-TV broadcaster Sky. “We have to involve the families more so that the players can go to tournaments easily and relaxed.”
“A matter of attitude”
Kromer is not alone in this view. “It can’t really be that some people have family reasons why they are not there. I don’t like such attitudes,” criticized ex-national coach Heiner Brand. “I have to expect that everybody’s ultimate goal is to play in the national team.”
The 69-year-old has no understanding for Juri Knorr either. The playmaker from the Rhein-Neckar Löwen refuses to be vaccinated against the coronavirus for personal reasons and is therefore missing from the list for the final from January 13th to 30th in Hungary and Slovakia, where only vaccinated or recovered people are allowed. “From a player who might want to become an international star, I have to expect that he takes his chance by all means,” said Sky expert Brand.
Similar tones were recently heard from Stefan Kretzschmar. Even the ex-national player and today’s sports director of the Bundesliga club Füchse Berlin currently misses the enthusiasm for the national team among some German players. “It’s a matter of attitude, a question of mentality,” said the 48-year-old to the “Mannheimer Morgen”. He doesn’t want to offend anyone and also understands the reasons for some of the refusals, but “I sometimes have the feeling that some people immediately associate a national team invitation with the issue of stress”.
“Duvnjak would never cancel”
This would not happen with other nations. “Domagoj Duvnjak would never think of something like that. He would never refuse the Croatians because all of this is too exhausting for him,” said Kretzschmar and cited another example: “After being invited, the Scandinavians start their trip to the national team with a smile and with them Joy in. There is nothing bigger for these guys. They go there. “
National coach Alfred Gislason, on the other hand, had to delete several players from his plans at the beginning of the year, as he did at the World Cup in Egypt. This is particularly painful because the DHB selection is currently in a personnel upheaval after missing the medal at the Olympic Games. Longstanding supports such as captain Uwe Gensheimer, backcourt player Steffen Weinhold or goalkeeper Johannes Bitter are no longer there anyway. Kromer is nevertheless confident: “We will have a squad we can be proud of.”