There will be answers
Finally another big game for the DHB team
By Till Erdenberger, Katowice
01/23/2023, 2:15 p.m
The German national handball team is enthusiastic about the World Cup, but also knows that what has been achieved so far “will not go down in the history books”. Now you can throw in with a success for the quarterfinals – and finally get a position determination.
Five wins from the first five games: The German national handball team got into a flow at the World Cup in Poland and Sweden. “It makes a lot of things easier,” said national coach Alfred Gislason recently, after which they made it to the quarter-finals with an impressive performance against the previously surprisingly strong Netherlands.
Gislason presents himself in Katowice, where the DHB team will play for the last time at this World Cup in the evening, as usual, extremely meticulous, but also relaxed because his team lets him. His speech from the main round game against Argentina is already legendary: “Play what you want. Outside, back, all that shit,” the Icelander showed his players with a tremendous lead at half-time how great the trust is.
The mood is great, but everyone is clear: “We have to recognize that reaching the quarterfinals, which we are proud of, will not go down in the history books,” as DHB sports director Axel Kromer warned. Heiner Brand, world champion coach from 2007, said the same thing to RTL/ntv: “The first appearances were okay, but not in such a way that you have to celebrate too much now. The difficult tasks are yet to come.” It’s against Norway in the evening (8.30 p.m./ARD and in the live ticker on ntv.de) about more than the group win and the supposedly easier quarter-final opponent Spain: It’s finally about a real determination of the position on the way back to the top of the world.
“Will be different against Norway”
“The five games were respectable, but none of these teams have the ambition to become world champions. That will be different against Norway,” says Kromer, describing the game as providing insights. “If we hold our own there, we’ll certainly be as close as the others who are in the quarter-finals.” The Norwegians, who have already qualified for the quarter-finals, are also still without a loss – and with superstar Sander Sagosen, Magnus Röd or Harald Reinkind they have a whole armada of extremely dangerous shooters. Hard work awaits the German team.
The Norwegians, for their part, send respect notes. “We’re really looking forward to the group finals. Germany is a great team, we have to be well prepared and take the good feeling with us,” said superstar Sagosen, who is currently playing his third and final season for the German industry leader THW Kiel, the Norwegian Dagbladet newspaper.
One who knows Germany and the German players just as well is Göran Johannessen. He still plays for SG Flensburg-Handewitt and has already been faced with difficult tasks by Germany – but not in a sporting way: “I mean it completely seriously. The bureaucracy that you experience in Germany is absolutely crazy when you come from Norway, where you have a computer and know how electronics work,” the backcourt player recently told “Dagbladet” with a smile. “Then you come to Germany and everything goes by post. It’s very hard when you come here and don’t even understand German at first.”
Johanessen, who will play for the highly ambitious handball project in Kolstad at home like Röd and Sagosen from the coming season, was not present at the last important sporting meeting: At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, a strong German team beat Norway in the summer of 2021 Norway 28:23. With Johannes Golla, Paul Drux, Philipp Weber, Andreas Wolff, Kai Häfner and Juri Knorr, there are still six German players from back then in the German squad. It was the last win against a big opponent in an important game.
“It was so important…”
The DHB team is not struggling with bureaucracy, but for its place at the top of the world, the statistics show that the largest handball association in the world has been left behind: in 2021 at the World Cup in Egypt, only the historically poor twelfth place jumped out. At the European Championships last year, which the DHB team completed with remarkable stamina against all odds, shaken by the corona virus, they still achieved a respectable seventh place.
The tournament ended the crisis mode in which national coach Alfred Gislason had to act due to the pandemic since he took office in 2020. Only then did the phase begin in which the world-class coach was able to work sustainably on building his team. “We have seen continuous development in the team since the two Hungary games in March last year,” said Gislason, looking ahead to the first international matches after the European Championship. The successful World Cup qualification against the Faroe Islands followed, and now Gislason’s team has emerged. “It was so important to keep the core of this team together. They get to know each other better, there’s a little improvement in many aspects in almost every game.”
Now the anticipation is great to finally be able to compete against a big opponent in this constellation. “They are the strongest opponents in the tournament so far. We can certainly learn a lot from the game,” said Gislason. “Norway are favourites, I absolutely want to win. Because the best preparation for the quarter-finals is success.” If the German team wins or draws, they will meet Spain in the quarter-finals.
Which is possible? “We can all dream,” said Gislason: “But you should avoid that first of all.” He himself forbids dreaming through meticulous preparation: “I cut videos until 2 a.m., was in bed at 2.30 a.m. and up again at 6.30 a.m.,” summarized the national coach in the “Bild” interview his night after the win against the Netherlands together. But: “A lot is possible with this team. Are we ready now? We have to answer that question ourselves.” After the Norway game there will be at least first indications.