“Everything is possible”: DHB newbies gain self-confidence for EM

Friday, January 07, 2022

“Everything is possible”
DHB newbies gain self-confidence for EM

The German national handball team is traveling to the European Championship with a newly formed team. The last tests before the tournament are all the more important. Against Switzerland, things are going “very well” for the team led by national coach Alfred Gislason. But the victory does not hide the weaknesses.

A victory for self-confidence, but still room for improvement: Germany’s handball players have won their penultimate test match before the European Championship. The team of national coach Alfred Gislason defeated Switzerland with 30:26 (15:14) and took off a week before their European Championship opening game for the upcoming tournament in Slovakia and Hungary.

“Overall, we did very well,” said Gislason on the ARD microphone: “We had small phases with problems, but I expected that. The team has done an outstanding job since January 1st. That was a good game. The EM – Everyone is very excited. “

The top scorer in the DHB selection in Mannheim was left winger Marcel Schiller with seven goals. In the EM dress rehearsal, the German team will meet Olympic champion France on Sunday (7:05 p.m. / Sport1), before the team will travel to the preliminary round venue in Bratislava on Wednesday. “Everything is possible. We are unpredictable,” said goalkeeper Till Klimpke confidently: “We want to win as many games as possible.”

Team-mate Timo Kastening said: “Everything is possible”, with an emphasis on “everything”. He warned that it could end badly for the newly formed team at the EM, with the end in the preliminary round. Too much self-confidence is therefore not appropriate.

“It wasn’t consistently fluent”

Seven days before the first European Championship appearance, the team around captain Johannes Golla struggled for a long time. But when it came down to it in the final phase, the German team stayed cool and was able to break away decisively. “It wasn’t consistently fluent in attack,” said Gislason: “But the defense in particular was better in the last quarter of an hour.”

Gislason used the game against the WM-16. especially to try out his broad squad, peppered with nine tournament debutants. The Icelander set an example right from the start. Sebastian Heymann instead of Julius Kühn, Luca Witzke instead of Philipp Weber and Djibril M’Bengue instead of Kai Häfner: Gislason offered three of the nine tournament debutants from the start and left the established forces on the bench for one half.

The newly formed team did well at first and quickly led 6: 3 (10th), but especially in defense it revealed some deficits. The agreement in the middle block did not work, and there was also a lack of penetration at the front. Before the break it was mainly thanks to keeper Andreas Wolff that the German team never fell behind despite almost six minutes without a goal of their own.

“Not yet where we want to go”

“I think we can still improve a bit. Especially in defense, we are not where we want to be,” said Oliver Roggisch at the break in the ARD and called for “more emotions” and a “better game of switching”.

In the second round, Gislason brought his veterans in the back area – and the German team now seemed more concentrated. Also because the substitute Till Klimpke, like Wolff, showed a few parades, the DHB team quickly pulled away to 22:17 (39th). But another phase of weakness followed, so that ten minutes before the end the lead suddenly melted down to one goal (25:24). Then Germany pulled away again.