The DHB team celebrates a great success at the European Handball Championship: the German team reaches the semi-finals early. But the party is crashed – by the host himself. Various national players are somewhat shocked by their own team.
Yuri Knorr grinned. The German national team playmaker, who is otherwise always serious and focused in the context of a handball game, floated in a good mood, larger than life, over the field in Cologne’s Lanxess Arena, where his team was currently playing against Croatia. The arena management had placed the 23-year-old’s face on the gigantic video cube in the hall shortly before half-time after colleague Sebastian Heymann had previously thrown the DHB team into the lead with a huge fire torch against Croatia. Juri Knorr was amazed, everything was fine. Even though not everything was perfect.
Then the mood changed: At the end of the evening, Juri Knorr apologized. “To be honest, I’m sorry for everyone who was there today and bought tickets,” said the German pacer over the hall microphone to the people in the arena, which was of course once again full to capacity. “We are in the semi-finals, but maybe we were too busy beforehand and switched off in our heads. That hurts me and all of us extremely.”
“If you can’t concentrate, get out!”
It’s a bit tragic, or at least annoying: On the evening on which German handball celebrated its greatest success since the 2019 home World Cup, Juri Knorr wants to apologize to the spectators. The DHB team is in the semi-finals of the European Championship in their own country, a great result that is perhaps just an interim step on the way to more. “It’s the greatest thing in the world to be able to play a semi-final in front of our fans,” said Knorr later, referring to Friday’s duel (8.30 p.m./ZDF and in the live ticker at ntv.de) with the top favorite Denmark. “That makes me very proud.” They repeatedly assert that the German team was carried into the semi-finals by the fans – and by Iceland and France, who had defeated the competition from Austria and Hungary.
And that was a problem that evening in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, where they actually wanted to celebrate the great success together with the euphoric fans and gain a bit of momentum for the semi-finals. Instead, the men in the black jerseys crashed their own party.
Against Croatia, national coach Alfred Gíslason’s men delivered a performance in the meaningless final main round game that made the experienced Kai Häfner say that they had “failed as a team”. It was 24:30 after a shaky opening phase and a second half that once again brought with it old challenges that had been hoped to be overcome: technical errors, unfocused shots and another flood of missed throws. “Anyone who can’t concentrate should report and come out,” complained Gíslason during a time out. They created countless chances and left far too many behind. “You have to clean those damn things too.”
“This is just annoying”
Of course, Gíslason had taken almost all of the front seven off the field early on and given his second line plenty of playing time. But the explanation for the poor performance of the team, which had been enthusiastic in the 35:28 win over Hungary two days earlier and can conjure up great emotions at any time with their mentality, their personality and their handball quality, lay elsewhere: “Today we were simply not ready for a European Championship game, we can’t go into a game like that,” said Kai Häfner. “That’s annoying right now. You’re not allowed to play a home game like that. We’re not allowed to present ourselves like that.”
At some point, the 19,750 spectators were only moved at the push of a button and via arena loudspeakers; the German team no longer aroused any great emotions that evening. The constellation “of course played a big role,” Knorr gave an open insight into the team’s psyche. “I’ll repeat myself, but I’m sorry.”
Juri Knorr, the most important German player, who is all too often criticized in the event of a defeat, took a personal stand against the wind. And it distinguishes the playmaker, who even in the wildest phase of the German game was not on the pitch himself: No criticism of the German team’s game could be sharper than what Knorr himself formulated in the hall. “A great team that we want to become also wins a game like this. Or at least goes into a game like this with the mentality of giving everything. We didn’t do that today.” He added on ARD: “We played such an emotional, fighting tournament and to miss that today is a bit disappointing. I’m wondering why we’re doing it like that today.”
It is a strength, especially at the moment when the disappointment could be put into perspective more clearly by referring to the great things that have been achieved. Instead, Knorr emphasized the importance of this one game, which was completely insignificant for the course of the tournament: “Everyone knows how much a ticket like this costs. We also have to be aware of that, even if we have reached the semi-finals – not everyone probably has the opportunity “To buy another ticket for the semi-finals. I’m just sorry for every child, for every single person in this hall.” The severe suffering over their own performance and the merciless self-criticism, as shown by Knorr and Häfner, honor the team, which is not yet a great one, but can still become so as the tournament progresses.
The national coach praised his team as having “developed very nicely” since the start of the European Championship. “It has been our dream for a year that we reach the semi-finals. It is extremely important for the boys that they have achieved this. We are very happy about it,” said national coach Gíslason, making it clear how important it was to know that they had reached the semi-finals.
“We need the people out there”
In view of the obvious drop in tension, it is also worth remembering that the German team has been under constant pressure at this tournament since day one. A European Championship does not forgive any periods of weakness. The world record game in Düsseldorf at the start brought an emotional state of emergency due to its sheer size, later quasi-finals came in a merciless two-day rhythm for the young team, which shouldered great expectations. After the disappointing performance against Austria (22:22), which had put the team in a difficult situation both athletically and emotionally, they pulled themselves out of the maelstrom with “harsh words” (backcourt player Julian Köster), the reaction – the 35: 28 against Hungary – was largely inspiring. But it all takes effort.
The entire main round was not only a sporting challenge, but also a huge emotional challenge on the verge of elimination. The thriller against Iceland (26:24), the self-destructive comeback against Austria, the liberation against Hungary: every game is a borderline experience between despair and euphoria. Except for the last one. That was annoying. “I think it’s a shame that we lost this game. But it’s not a broken neck,” said Rune Dahmke, one of the last heroes of the sensational European Championship triumph in 2016 alongside Häfner. “I can promise that we’ll have a completely different game on Friday will show their face.”
On Friday, the biggest task in world handball awaits the German team: serial world champion Denmark is coming to Cologne. By then, the team, which is characterized by an excellent domestic climate, will have long since put the anger about the voltage drop behind them. “The spectators have to make the day special. We need the people out there. Otherwise we have no chance,” says Juri Knorr combatively after his apology. “The fans are a huge factor. It’s been huge so far, but we need more. We need twice as much.” And they themselves have to give twice as much.