The German national handball team first played big against record world champions France and then collapsed fatally. The biggest game in recent years ends in bankruptcy, but it should become important again at some point.
The superstar was at a loss: No, said Nikola Karabatic, three-time world handball player and four-time world champion, he couldn’t say exactly what the German national handball team was missing to win the big games against the big opponents again. With 35:28 his French had previously beaten the DHB team in the quarter-finals of the world championship. Much too high, because the German team had trumped 35 minutes in phases. “The result doesn’t show how strong the German team really was,” said Karabatic. The defeat was deserved because in the end the air ran out, efficiency was lost and too many mistakes found their way into the German game. Things that shouldn’t happen at this level because they’ll be punished immediately.
It was the big reality check, the final position determination after five games in which a new DHB generation has solved its tasks in part enthusiastically and one that had received a damper against a world-class team after a strong performance. Now Germany’s handball players know where they really stand: on the threshold of absolute world leadership. Not more but also not less. Coached by Alfred Gislason’s side, they have come a long way in this tournament, but they ran out of steam just before the finish line. This time.
“It hurts badly at first”
“We have to manage to make one less mistake in crunch time,” said a very disappointed Rune Dahmke afterwards. At the beginning they were there, at 11:7 the DHB team led by four goals for the first time, shortly after halftime they almost drew back to three goals. Nearly. “Always almost there is not enough,” said Rune Dahmke, European champion of 2016. “If you go out of the game with minus seven, you must be dissatisfied. Even if that doesn’t reflect what we can do and what we have great Have done parts of the game. That hurts brutally at first.”
So again nothing will happen with the first German World Cup medal since the triumph in 2007. And again it wasn’t enough to beat a big team. The German team has been waiting for a win in a knockout game at a World Cup since 2015. Alfred Gislason is “extremely proud” of his team. With inspiring offensive handball, she not only passed the easier tasks up to the fixed qualification for the minimum goal of the quarter-finals, but even “solved them excellently”, as the long-time DHB Vice Bob Hanning described it appreciatively.
In the days of Katowice and the short trip to Gdansk, things clearly started to move. With Juri Knorr there is a playmaker who also convinced against France for a long time before he also made mistakes. “Mistakes he’s allowed to make,” Gislason said mildly of his best student. “A lot of things that were very good,” he saw. The ratings for the seven German games are higher than the results of the previous tournaments, and the team is enthusiastic again.
Now it’s off to Stockholm for the placement round, 5th place is still possible. A worthwhile goal, “such a fifth place at a world championship in the biography is a nice success for each of us”, captain Johannes Golla bravely looked ahead. But more valuable than fifth place is the experience that the team, which has been operating in crisis mode at major tournaments for almost three years, has been able to gain. Shaken by the pandemic and constant cancellations by established national players, continuous development was impossible for a long, long time.
“The last tournament,” said Andreas Wolff with a view to a wild corona mess at the EM 2022, “that doesn’t count for me.” This time they could finally at least take something home, regardless of the final placement, said the national coach: “We are still an inexperienced team in terms of breadth and key positions.” And: “It’s important to have these experiences. We learned a lot at this tournament.”
“It’s the cleverness”
Wolff, who is finally playing a consistently strong tournament again and is taking on a very individual, enriching development for the team through a newly won positivity, didn’t want to deal too long with the dark side of the defeat after the game: “Everyone has potential to develop into great players,” said the 31-year-old. “But we still lack experience at the absolute top level. That was the deciding factor today. If we grow together a little more and gain a little more experience against opponents at that level,” said Wolff, “we’ll soon be lucky for 60 minutes be kind.”
What does the factor of experience at the level to which the German team wants to return mean in concrete terms? “It’s the cleverness. You noticed immediately with France: Two goals up, they slow down. Play every attack for a minute or two. They punish every mistake mercilessly, but they also know when to stop,” explained Rune dahmke “A lot of things are really good with us, but sometimes there’s also a lot of risk. You get the feeling that if something’s wrong and one or two attempts don’t work out, then more will come and we won’t be able to stop it in time. That’s the difference .”
It’s a learning process and at least in this quarterfinal they got to learn from the best. “Remili intercepts a pass over half a meter,” said captain Johannes Golla appreciatively, “you only do that if you’ve been at this level in these pressure situations a few times. And of course they have that ahead of us. Today we demonstrated get what it means to be ripped off.”
And then there is the quality, especially in terms of width. France coach Guillaume Gille and his squad are in the remarkable position of being able to replace world class with world class in almost every position. “Many players who sit on the bench or in the stands for France”, enthused national coach Gislason, “would certainly have a regular place with other teams”. The German team had to pay tribute to the strain that too many key players had to play too much, even if Gislason was often able to conserve resources due to the strong preliminary performances in previous games.
Even more quality
With Fabian Wiede, who had canceled the World Cup due to an operation and his marriage and thus unmistakably caused displeasure in Gislason and also in parts of the team, the national coach probably has another player with tremendous playing quality available on the way to the European Championship in 2024. Hendrik Pekeler, who is on break in the national team and one of the best defenders in the country with immense international experience, is said to be flirting with a return to the DHB team. It would be top-class options for Gislason to broaden this squad, which was formed through several measures and stressful situations, at a high level.
The conclusion of this World Cup has been drawn, the lessons learned. Significant progress made. Even if there is nothing that earns a place in the history books, as sports director Axel Kromer put it. But there will still be two games at this World Cup, “competitive level tests that will also help us,” said Golla, for whom it is important “to finish the tournament properly.” Africa champion Egypt is already a real endurance test next Friday (3.30 p.m. / ARD and in the live ticker on ntv.de), a comparatively tight 22:26 against World Cup favorite Sweden in the quarterfinals in front of their large home crowd is a convincing business card. If Germany wins, there will probably be a rematch against Norway in the match for fifth place.
In January 2024, the European Championship will take place in their own country, by then the disappointment of being eliminated should have turned into experience for future tasks. In order to finally turn an “almost there” into a “fully there” again.