DThe German national handball team needed goals in Varazdin to catch up with the leading Spaniards in the middle of the second half. So national coach Christian Prokop risked something: he brought the seventh field player. The goalkeeper had to go to the bench. The majority backfired. Prokop’s seven playful ball after ball. The Spaniards scored three times in the empty goal. The German Handball Association (DHB) missed the semi-finals. What unsuccessfully applied to the 2018 European Championship in Croatia could soon be abolished.
Since 2016, the International Handball Federation (IHF) has allowed the goalkeeper to switch to a seventh field player. It was intended as a tactical variant and a spectacular innovation. It is now repelling many coaches. National coach Alfred Gislason is one of the sharpest critics. He says: “I don’t think the rule made the game more attractive. On the contrary. Handball has slowed down as a result. ”Even national coach Henk Groener has little to gain from the 7: 6. A whole series of Bundesliga coaches and European coaches recently voted in a “Handball Week” poll to withdraw the rule.
“Too much standing handball is being played for me”
It has arrived at the IHF. “We are in the middle of the discussion,” said Dietrich Späte to “Deutschlandfunk”. Late is chair of the IHF Methodology Committee. The international association wants to rethink the rule, also because of the public pressure that has arisen from the majority opinion of the coaches and the discussion that has started. However, Late points out to the critics that on average only ten percent of the goals were scored in 7: 6 per game. This resulted in an evaluation of the World Cup 2019. In the national leagues, however, the number is likely to be higher, because club teams have much more time to study the 7: 6.
Maik Machulla is one of the rejectors of the rule in the Bundesliga. He misses dynamics and action on the field, tactical subtleties fell by the wayside: “Too much standing handball is being played for me. The 1: 1 situations for which we train young handball players fall by the wayside in the game 7: 6. ”The coach of SG Flensburg-Handewitt sees defense as a central, interesting part of handball. Risking something, covering it openly, moving far away from your own circle, guessing your opponent’s moves: for Machulla this is part of modern handball. If the opponent constantly plays in 7: 6, then in his opinion that weakens teams with an offensive defense: “We then have to be very defensive.”
Machulla was not a friend of 7: 6 from the start of the rule. He rarely lets it play, hardly trains. His players also reject it. His observation is that his own attack game becomes more static as soon as the constellation 7: 6 occurs: “You put yourself to sleep and take this sleepiness into your next defense.”
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Another negative consequence is, according to many renowned coaches, the goals in the empty goal: If the ball is deflected in front, the goalkeeper runs from the bench towards the housing to ward off the opponent’s ball – this usually fails. In the best case, the rescue act provides spectacular pictures. Meanwhile, only malice comes from the ranks if a sloppy attack is punished in this way. This is not a good psychological moment, and counter-hits with hits into the empty goal are reminiscent of leisure handball. Machulla says: “If coaches are successful with the 7: 6, you praise their courage. If there are gates into the empty gate, they say: How could he? “
When the rule was changed, there was a lot of discussion about toughness in handball. In fact, the game has become tougher since then, because a two-minute penalty looks much milder if the team is allowed to fill up in the attack and continues to play with six players.
“The most important thing is that the IHF is now including us trainers”
Of course, there are also supporters of 7: 6. Nikolaj Jacobsen is one of them. The Danish world champion coach Andy Schmid was the leader of the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. Schmid seemed unimpressed by the empty gate at the back of his neck and rarely lost the overview. Jacobsen often trusted the seventh outfield player with the national team.
As a long-time coach at HBW Balingen-Weilstetten, Rolf Brack is also one of the friends of the overpayment game. At the last European Championship, the Portuguese played almost continuously with seven field players and defeated France. Croatia’s national coach Lino Cervar estimates the 7: 6, but understands the arguments of the opposite side, he says: “The most important thing is that the IHF includes coaches now.” Machulla has a similar view: “The topic is placed and is being discussed. That’s a good thing. ”Machulla knows that nothing will change so quickly: the world association could withdraw the rule by July 1, 2022 at the earliest. From Machulla’s point of view, it would be a start to modernize the rule, to allow the tiresome 7: 6 only for a limited number of attacks.
Another regulation has already been adapted to everyone’s satisfaction. Starting next season, in the Bundesliga, if there is a tie, the goal difference will no longer be used, but the direct duel to decide. This was a request from Gislason to the HBL to relieve his international players. Small change, big impact, says Machulla: “As the top team, you no longer have the pressure to start chasing goals from matchday one.” In fact, the national team could get more breaks and the substitutes could get more minutes of use.
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