Fears about the European Championship semi-finals begin
DHB team trembles in a draw against Austria
January 20, 2024, 10:04 p.m
For a long time, the DHB team in the Cologne Arena has been chasing a deficit against their small neighbors Austria. He hardly seems to be catching up with ten minutes to go. Then the team around goalkeeping titan Wolff sets out and fights for a draw. The semi-final chances remain intact.
After the next setback at the home European Championships, Germany’s handball players stood on the floor with stony faces and seemed to be in a state of shock. Due to the 22:22 (11:12) in the prestigious duel against Austria, national coach Alfred Gíslason’s team no longer has their desired place in the semi-finals in their own hands.
“We will do it as a unit. Of course, tonight we have to talk about what happened today, because we won’t achieve anything in the tournament that way,” said captain Johannes Golla on ARD. National coach Gislason said: “We lost the point in attack.” The many technical errors were “cruel”.
In front of 19,750 fans, Juri Knorr, in his 50th appearance in the DHB jersey, was the best thrower of the German team with six goals, which acted erratically and incorrectly and was well served with the draw in the end. “That was incredibly bad of us and could possibly ruin our goals,” criticized Golla.
Currently only in fourth place
With 3:3 points, the DHB selection only takes fourth place in Group I. Behind Olympic champion France (6:0), who beat Iceland 39:32, are Austria and Hungary (4:2 each). Hungary, the next opponent of the DHB selection on Monday, defeated Croatia 29:26. The first two in the group reach the semi-finals.
Under the eyes of almost all of the 1978 world champions around jubilee Joachim Deckarm, to whom the spectators gave a special serenade before kick-off one day after his 70th birthday, the previously convincing director Knorr initially just sat on the bench. “He was a little ill before the last game,” said Gislason, explaining the move.
Philipp Weber from Champions League winner SC Magdeburg moved into the starting line-up for Knorr. But without their top playmaker from cup winners Rhein-Neckar Löwen, the DHB selection struggled from the start. Luckily, goalkeeper Andreas Wolff was immediately up to speed in his 150th international match, as was the case in the 26:24 shaky win against Iceland. With his saves, the 32-year-old ensured that the Austrians were initially unable to pull away despite the proliferation of opportunities and numerous technical errors by the DHB team.
Error festival also in the second half
But Constantin Möstl in the Austrian goal was also in top form and caused the German players to despair. In the middle of the first half, the European Championship hosts were down by two goals at 4:6 – and Gislason sent Knorr to the floor.
“A defeat against Austria – and the dream of the semi-final would be over,” the national coach warned before the game and predicted a difficult task. He was proven right, because the outsider played carefree and extended the lead to four goals for the first time at 10:6.
Only in the final phase of the first half did the German team act a little more consistently in attack, in which Knorr played a part. The deficit was only one goal after the first 30 minutes. “We have to finish more confidently,” demanded DHB sports director Axel Kromer during the half-time break.
Heiner Brand became even clearer on ARD. “What we showed in attack wasn’t actually possible. That was so bad,” criticized the 2007 world champion coach. But the festival of mistakes continued after the change. The German players repeatedly failed because of Austria’s goalkeeper Möstl, but they didn’t make things too difficult for him with many unplaced throws. In the middle of the second half, Gislason’s protégés were once again behind by four goals at 16:20. Driven by the audience, Knorr and Co. fought their way back in the final phase and actually managed to equalize.