Alfred Gislason has been the coach of the German handball team since March 2020, and yes, maybe, maybe he will finally start his first, quite ordinary tournament as national coach in January.
There was a World Cup in Egypt before, but what kind of tournament was that in the Corona winter of 2021 in the bubble in Cairo, when entire teams refused to participate, and group opponents Cape Verde even withdrew during the tournament? Important German players had withdrawn in advance because the situation on site seemed too uncertain. The team finished twelfth in the general chaos.
The rescheduled summer games in Tokyo followed, when hardly any player was strong after the grueling Corona season. Result: sixth place. And the EM 2022, which was even more turbulent. Here the German team had the virus itself in their luggage; 16 infected players plus an infected assistant coach, according to the balance sheet. In one tour, Gislason sent infected people home with the ambulance, nominated new players, some of whom were on the field a few hours after their arrival. In the end, seventh place was a pretty respectable result.
And now, in January 2023, the World Cup in Poland and Sweden. Finally a normal tournament?
Where this team stands in comparison to the world’s best is uncertain
Gislason laughs his roaring laugh when asked about it. “Thanks for the question,” he replies, and the Icelander actually sees it that way. A tournament where the focus is on sport, how nice would that be. A World Cup or European Championship that Gislason can actually play with the players he intended for it – a dream. “It was quite adventurous what we have experienced in the past few years,” says Gislason. He would be “very happy” if the upcoming World Cup “would become a normal tournament”.
Well, things aren’t quite normal now either. Before the Euro Cup, which starts on Thursday in Mannheim and gives the German team two endurance tests against European champions Sweden (7 p.m. / Sport1) and on Saturday in Spain, scheduled players have canceled again: Fabian Wiede (Füchse Berlin) injured himself most recently on the right foot, Franz Semper from SG Flensburg-Handewitt was called up for him at short notice. Circle player Jannik Kohlbacher will also be absent, as well as long-term sufferers Julius Kühn (broken ankle), Sebastian Heymann and Timo Kastening (both torn cruciate ligaments).
The national coach could use him, but Fabian Wiede is injured for the tough tests against Sweden and Spain.
(Photo: Marijan Murat/dpa)
Nothing dramatic yet, says Gislason: “Individual failures are not that bad. It always happens that one or the other cannot play.” The absence of Wiede hurts him. The Berliner is one of those forces that the national coach likes to call regular players. Wiede plays a “very central role”. He was also planned this time, according to Gislason. At the same time he says: “It’s no use complaining, we learned that in January.” And Wiede is firmly earmarked for the World Cup in all plans.
Where the team is now, with or without Wiede, is an interesting question. The performance of the DHB selection at the past major tournaments can hardly be seriously evaluated. Where does this team rank compared to the world’s best? Far behind the Danes, Swedes and French? Or just a bit behind?
At the World Cup, it is not the special forces that are in demand in the German team, but the all-rounders
One thing is clear: After the farewells of Patrick Wiencek, Johannes Bitter (both retired from the national team) and Hendrik Pekeler (he is officially on hiatus), the DHB team does not exactly have excessive international experience. On the other hand, the many young players who had unexpected playing time during the Corona turmoil showed what they were made of. First and foremost the young goalkeeper Till Klimpke, who has secured the second regular place next to Andreas Wolff. There have always been defeats against the big nations (at the European Championship against Spain, Norway and Sweden), but these were not so significant that the deficit could not perhaps be made up.
“We can see where we really stand after this week,” says Gislason. The first opponent Sweden is a decent caliber. “We’re really looking forward to this opponent,” announces the trainer and recalls that his selection played “quite well” in the main round of the European Championship at 21:25 – even if they ended up losing. The hope is that the gap to the European champions will be even smaller in front of a home crowd and with fewer injury worries.
And since Corona is just taking a back seat, the national coach even has time to talk about tactics. He has decided to challenge his team a little less in a specific area: Gislason had recently often relied on special forces, such as pure defenders who are replaced after every attack, but all-rounders are in demand at the World Cup. He wants to achieve “that we don’t have to change as much,” says Gislason, which speaks against a nomination of Leipzig’s Simon Ernst in the middle of the defense – and for Julian Köster (VfL Gummersbach) and Tim Zechel (HC Erlangen), who can be used in front and behind are.
Gislason doesn’t want to go too far with the rejuvenation of the squad either. He brought back Patrick Groetzki (Rhein-Neckar Löwen), who is now 33 years old, to replace the injured Kastening. He was originally out of the national team. “Achievement is rewarded,” said Gislason succinctly. And Groetzki is “in the shape of his life”.
