The record game in a quick check
Steinmeier’s stumble is followed by the German handball frenzy
By Till Erdenberger, Düsseldorf
January 10, 2024, 11:28 p.m
The German national handball team brilliantly survived the gigantic game of fate that the organizers of the home European Championship put right at the start of the tournament. The mission of “victory plus euphoria” was clearly fulfilled against Switzerland.
What actually happened in the Düsseldorf football stadium?
Even the experienced Federal President was at a loss for words: Perhaps in view of the world record crowd, perhaps simply a little unconcentrated, Frank-Walter Steinmeier had to struggle a bit at the opening of the first European Handball Championship on German soil: The politician welcomed the 53,586 spectators to the Düsseldorf football stadium in English -Arena, players and officials for the “European Championship in Europe 2022”, there was a buzz in the stadium, Steinmeier then finished his speech without an accident.
Perhaps Steinmeier was moved by the magnitude of the moment, because after all they had made this game the biggest that handball has ever experienced after its move to the halls of the world. More people have never seen an indoor handball game – and in terms of sport, the DHB team’s game against Switzerland was a real game of fate. Not only did you need a win, no, you also need euphoria to really achieve something in this tournament. “To tear something” means: a medal, nothing less.
The “all-important game” is the start, said handball legend Stefan Kretzschmar. “We hope that the euphoria we are igniting here will carry us through the entire European Championship until January 28th,” said the DHB. It really couldn’t be a size smaller, given the frame and the constellation. The medal, you remember. The DHB team, which nominally lacks the quality for a top placement, needs euphoria. She needs the X factor, that secret power that makes athletes greater than they are.
And then the great promise of this gigantic game of fate was actually fulfilled: after a nervous start, the German team simply overwhelmed Switzerland around the former world-class playmaker Andy Schmid. After 20 minutes, Andreas Wolff had saved twice as many throws as he conceded. It wasn’t all brilliant by any means, there are things that will need to be talked about. But it was intense. And successful. The host’s clear victory does not make any of the big favorites tremble, but the spirit that will carry the DHB team to the semi-finals and beyond seems to have been successfully conjured up.
The scene of the game:
35 minutes had been played when the outstanding Andreas Wolff, who had himself been celebrated by tens of thousands for a spectacular parade a few seconds earlier, applauded those in front of him: “Germany, Germany” shouted the standing crowd, defense, outnumbered. But they fought for the ball, as they had done several times before. It wasn’t a decisive scene, the game was too one-sided for that, but it was a symbol: The shine comes from working together. The defense worked hard, Wolff held and together they made them forget that the attack was too inefficient. And at some point they simply overran Switzerland.
How was it in the hall?
They had left nothing to chance. Before kick-off, hall announcer Kevin Gerwin instructed the world record crowd: “Germany, Germany” was to be shouted if the DHB team had to defend; if they were outnumbered, the audience had to stand up. None of this would have been necessary, because ideally it is the game that sets the mood. And so it quickly felt natural to experience a handball game in a football stadium in front of a record crowd: Chief animator Wolff created the right atmosphere with numerous parades early on, and after an offensively nervous ten minutes, the people in front of him also turned the euphoria control.
“The players have to make an advance effort for the interaction between the team and the spectators. The spark has to jump from the parquet to the stands,” national coach Alfred Gislason half demanded, half promised. You just have to allow people to get excited and then they will. When Wolff went to the bench after 50 minutes, 50,000 people stood up – and the German team was not outnumbered at all.
Will Germany now become European champions?
“With all due respect to Switzerland, but no matter whether in front of one or a million viewers: this job simply has to be done,” demanded long-time DHB vice-president Bob Hanning in an interview with ntv.de. And they got the job done. And they did it so confidently that in addition to the opening victory, which was already mathematically so important and the euphoria required, there was also an enormously important bonus for the rest of the tournament: national coach Gislason was able to give his key players a breather early on. Playmaker Juri Knorr, Johannes Golla, who was busiest in the middle block and in the opposing circle, and Julian Köster were able to enjoy most of the second half from the bench – and thus save important energy.
They did what had to be done. “With millions of German fans behind us, a lot is possible. The goal is to clearly become European champions,” said goalkeeper hero Wolff, who later simply ate Switzerland up, before the game. The 32-year-old saved more than 60 percent of the balls that Switzerland put on goal. An incredible rate.
The voices:
National coach Alfred Gislason: “First of all, we’ll enjoy what we’ve achieved today. And then, starting tomorrow after we arrive in Berlin, we’ll have to focus fully on North Macedonia. The team’s defensive behavior was phenomenal, and that helped us a lot. We got what felt like eight balls back, that were lost. So a huge compliment to the attitude of the boys.”
Julian Köster (both on ZDF): “It was really impressive: as soon as we came in to warm up for the first time, it was extremely loud and there was a really cool atmosphere throughout the whole game. I think we started the game very well and were able to gain a lead relatively quickly . That’s why the whole game can be made a little easier and played down. It’s very difficult to say (how far it can go). Once we won the first game, that was very important. Now we’ll make sure we regenerate quickly and “We can play well in the second game.”