Whistles for EM guest Olaf Scholz
German handball players finish off North Macedonia
January 14, 2024, 10:00 p.m
After the spectacular shooting festival at the start of the home European Championship, the German handball players also completed the second task very confidently. There is never any danger of success against North Macedonia. The national coach experiments and complains about weaknesses.
Goal party in Berlin, the highs continue: Germany’s handball players have mastered their second European Championship test thanks to an offensive fireworks display and have secured their ticket for the main round ahead of schedule. National coach Alfred Gislason’s team outclassed North Macedonia 34:25 (18:13) and nurtured hopes of a new winter fairy tale in their own country. “It’s crazy what handball Germany is doing here, first in Düsseldorf, now Berlin, these are emotions,” said Jannik Kohlbacher on ZDF.
The DHB team fueled the euphoria with high-speed handball and great goals. In the second section, young goalkeeper David Späth pulled the 13,571 spectators in Berlin out of their seats with spectacular parades. Playmaker Juri Knorr became the best German thrower with ten goals in front of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The Chancellor was greeted by many fans in the hall with loud whistles.
However, Gislason was not completely satisfied. “The second half was very good, but in the first half we had a lot of missed throws and missed too many chances,” said the coach and, unimpressed by the cheers in the hall, summed it up dryly: “There was a lot of good things there – but actually not good enough.”
Knorr always shows off extra class
The preliminary round ends on Tuesday (8.30 p.m./ARD and Dyn as well as in the live ticker at ntv.de) the duel for group victory against record world champions France, who surprisingly didn’t score more than 26:26 against Switzerland on Sunday. The game is of great importance as the points against the teams that also qualified will be taken into the next phase of the tournament.
Four days after the dream start against Switzerland (27:14), the selection of the German Handball Federation (DHB) continued where it left off in front of the world record backdrop in Düsseldorf. Germany broke away early and gained valuable self-confidence for their first real cracker against the French Olympic champions. Knorr in particular repeatedly showed his exceptional class.
Gislason changes his formation
The unusually long pause was not noticeable. Gislason changed his formation in one position compared to the clear opening win. U21 world champion Renars Uscins started in the right back for Kai Häfner, who became a father for the second time on Friday evening and therefore sat out. Jannik Kohlbacher scored the first five-goal lead for the German team at 9:4 (13th), which forced visiting star coach Kiril Lazarov to take the first timeout. “Defense, defense, defense – things are going very well up front,” Gislason called out to his charges. And they continued to work with concentration.
Gislason spread the burden across several shoulders early on. In addition to Kohlbacher, Sebastian Heymann, among others, was involved in the left backfield to give Julian Köster, who plays a key role at the front and back, a breather. Späth was also allowed between the posts for Andreas Wolff in the 23rd minute. Häfner’s replacement Nils Lichtlein also made his tournament debut.
Quick attacks are always successful
Germany repeatedly punished North Macedonian mistakes with successful rapid attacks. At 13:7 (21st), the DHB men led by six goals for the first time and kept their lead constant – even though the goalkeeping wasn’t a factor at first. A strong attack rate of 72 percent was enough for a comfortable lead at the break. “Certainly a little more can be done in defense, in aggression, a few more goalkeeper saves and then we are fully on target,” said DHB sports director Axel Kromer at the break. No sooner said than done – Späth parried five balls within seven minutes and brought the hall into a frenzy.
It was only four and a half minutes after the restart that North Macedonia scored their first goal in the second period, after Germany had already scored three times. After a brief period of weakness, the DHB defense became more grippy again, with the wingers Timo Kastening and Lukas Mertens running numerous counterattacks. When Knorr scored to make it 31:21 ten minutes before the end, the game was finally decided.