“I cannot leave my wife and my daughters alone”
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Germany’s defense chief Hendrik Pekeler
Quelle: picture alliance/dpa
The situation in the German national handball team is slowly becoming threatening. National coach Gislason has to cope with the next Corona-related cancellations by important players. At the World Cup he is now facing major problems.
UIn order to classify the latest wave of rejections, a comparison with the football colleagues is quite clear. Imagine that one after the other the firmly planned defensive strategists Ilkay Gündogan, Matthias Ginter, Antonio Rüdiger and Toni Kroos cancel their participation in a major tournament.
The chances of a successful EM or World Cup would suddenly be considerably reduced. With this dilemma now national handball coach Alfred Gislason has to deal.
A few days before the nomination of his squad next Monday, the national players number two, three and four announced that they would not play the World Cup in Egypt in January. After Patrick Wiencek, his Kiel teammates Hendrik Pekeler and Steffen Weinhold as well as Finn Lemke (MT Melsungen) also canceled their participation in the global championships because of the ongoing corona crisis.
“Every loss is also an opportunity”
At his first major tournament as national coach, Gislason now has to completely rethink. Because what has always distinguished the Germans lately is breaking away from him: a strong defensive around the central block Pekeler / Wiencek and Lemke, who embodies world-class defense.
“In terms of sport, of course, the further cancellations hurt us. Everyone explained their motives to me in a personal interview, ”said Gislason. “I understand that, but it also gives a clear picture of our future work,” said the Icelander. “We will now plan with other players and continue to invest everything in order to achieve the best possible result at the World Cup. Every loss is also an opportunity. “
Alfred Gislason has been national coach for ten months
Source: picture alliance / augenklick / J
Since Franz Semper and Tim Suton are each injured with a cruciate ligament rupture and the Berlin-based Fabian Wiede still feels fit for the World Cup after a shoulder injury, the 61-year-old coach is missing a total of seven players from the preliminary World Cup squad consisting of 35 players. From the remaining circle, Gislason will now name the 20 players he wants to take with him to Egypt. “We respect the respective decisions. But we are also pleased that there has been a lot of positive feedback, and we continue to assume that we can provide a strong and success-hungry national team, “said DHB sports director Axel Kromer.
There may be further cancellations. As with Wiencek, the fear of possibly contracting Corona in Egypt and leaving the family alone for almost a month in the current situation is the main driving force behind their decisions for the other professionals too.
“The general development of the corona pandemic with the renewed hard lockdown worries me as a father of a family, and I cannot leave my wife and daughters alone for more than four weeks during this time,” said Pekeler. The decision was not easy for him, emphasized the 29-year-old from the record champions THW Kiel. “I’m particularly sorry for Alfred that his first tournament as the national coach of our national team will take place under such difficult circumstances.”
“Not an easy task”
His team-mate Weinhold from Kiel made a similar statement. “I really didn’t make this personal decision easy for myself,” said the 34-year-old left-hander. “But since the hard lockdown, taking care of your own children has not been an easy task, especially in families where both parents work. In the end, in order to deal responsibly with this situation as a family man, there is no other option for me than to cancel my participation in the World Cup. “
World class in defense: Hendrik Pekeler (left) and Patrick Wiencek
Source: picture alliance / dpa / dpa-Zentral
After careful consideration, Lemke also decided with a heavy heart against participating in the World Cup “with a view to my family”. The 28-year-old was infected with the corona virus during the DHB selection in November. “I wish our national team maximum success and hope that the whole team will return healthy,” said Lemke.
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