It’s not enough again…
A big game brings a bitter reality check
By Till Erdenberger, Berlin
January 16, 2024, 11:15 p.m
After days of dithering, the German national handball team narrowly fails the reality check: against record world champions France, the DHB team suffered its first defeat at the home European Championships.
What happened in the Mercedes-Benz Arena?
Switzerland and Macedonia were nothing more than the fuel with which they fueled the euphoria in the first days of the home European Championship. Everyone swore before the start of the tournament that they were urgently needed in order to finally be able to win something again. To really annoy the big guys again and not just knock on the door to world class. With France, the record world champion, the Olympic champion, the team of world-class experts, the first opponent was now a guest who could really spoil the party.
And they started brilliantly, Johannes Golla fought the ball in inimitable twice, Julian Köster scored and Andreas Wolff saved – after a few minutes it was 3-0 for the German team, the hall was boiling. But then the hangover set in somewhere: The French, this collection of highly decorated world-class people with endless experience, played down their own program, moderately impressed. And led by two goals at halftime. Although German director Juri Knorr, the top goalscorer with eight goals, has repeatedly shown that he is already one step further on the path to becoming a world-class playmaker than he was at the 2023 World Cup. The German team didn’t collapse, they stayed in the game – and fought their way back again and again, even taking the lead again twelve minutes before the end.
It was a big game, the DHB team did a lot of things right again. And because Andreas Wolff gradually returned to great form at the European Championships, everything was suddenly possible again. Also the big victory. But it happened as it always does: the French, who had been ripped off, made no more mistakes in the end – and the German team left something behind again. “Of course I’m disappointed that we lost the game. Overall, we fought well. There were little things that we were missing,” said Andreas Wolff, who was strong in the second half. “Overall, we held up well against it, we kept up with the French for a long time.” The reality check is still sobering for now, even if national coach Alfred Gislason is “very proud” of his team. There are no points for this.
What is the history?
German handball has been waiting for a medal since 2016 and the men’s Olympic bronze medal in Rio. Almost eight years – or the equivalent of 14 tournaments for men and women. An eternal period of suffering for the largest handball association in the world. In 2019, the DHB team reached the semi-finals of the home World Cup, then the plug was pulled. In 2023, with a fifth place, they at least returned to the top of the world after disastrous years. But: “Always being almost there isn’t enough,” said Rune Dahmke angrily after the quarter-final loss to France at the 2023 World Cup.
You haven’t beaten one of the big ones – Spain, Denmark, Sweden, France – in a big game for ages. Again and again there were bitter bankruptcies when it mattered most. It was one of the great hopes that was associated with this European Championship: to get another big win with the home advantage behind us. Just like in 2019, when, driven by an unleashed crowd in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, they defeated the strong Croatians 22:21 in the decisive main round game. It wasn’t enough again.
The scene of the game:
When the two teams last faced each other, the DHB team also played a great game – but only for 40 minutes. The score was 20:20 after the German team had previously missed the chance to pull within three goals after 20:18. Then everything collapsed, the weakened axis around Wolff, Knorr and Golla collapsed, and the German team produced 14 missed throws in the second half. “We have to manage to make one fewer mistakes in crunch time,” said Dahmke, then as now and also in the squad for the sensational European Championship triumph in 2016.
Now they made mistakes again, it wasn’t enough again: In crunch time, when they had fought back, when they had brought the much-vaunted momentum back to their own side against great resistance, they failed three times in two attacks from the backcourt formidable French defense. “We didn’t manage to perform to our full potential over 60 minutes,” said the experienced Kai Häfner, who returned to the team after the birth of his second child. “It will be very, very difficult against France.” It was your turn, yes. “We lack a bit of throwing power from the backcourt, that can’t be overlooked,” said the national coach afterwards. “But the boys are developing. I’m proud of the team.” The last step crashed into the French bloc.
How was it in the hall?
The time of the “friendly game atmosphere”, as national coach Gislason felt in the easy 34:25 win against North Macedonia, is over at this tournament. Because from now on every game is about bigger goals than getting into the main round. These are games in which every goal and every save can make the difference. The difference between precious metal and scrap. After the show of the past few days, when the mood was decoupled from the game early on and the “Oh how beautiful” O-meter was dutifully used, the all-important preliminary round final gave a first real impression of the “home advantage” factor.
Louder, angrier, the party is over, now it’s a community thing. So the setting is a factor. Even if it wasn’t enough against these French again. There are now four finals waiting for the DHB team in the main round, and the Lanxess Arena in Cologne is a good place for this: in 2007 they crowned the “summer fairy tale” with the World Cup title in the huge hall, and in 2019 they beat Croatia and Spain there one after the other – each with a one goal difference.
And won’t Germany become European champions now?
The DHB team takes zero points from the preliminary round after the defeat. The path to the semi-finals is still ahead of the hosts, but under normal circumstances any stumbling now means the end of all dreams. Four wins are needed against Iceland, Croatia, Austria and Hungary, then the cards will be reshuffled again in the semi-finals. Curious encouragement: In the last two title wins, we lost in the preliminary round against the eventual final opponent: in 2007 against Poland, in 2016 against Spain. “Nothing is lost yet. Losing against France is not the end of the world,” said Wolff, the 2016 final hero. In any case, the performance of the German team gave reason to hope that the journey will not end in the main round.