The German handball players started the 28th World Cup in Poland and Sweden with the hoped-for sense of achievement. In the 31:27 victory against Qatar in the Spodek Arena in Katowice, which was sparsely filled with 2,500 spectators, the team of national coach Alfred Gislason confirmed the good impression they had made in the past few weeks – but only in phases, not over the full 60 minutes.
In recent years, the Qatar team, with their Spanish coach Valero Rivera, has been able to annoy the German team several times, even at major tournaments – but not this time. National coach Gislason was still not satisfied. “If we also want to win the next game, we have to maintain our level continuously,” said the Icelander afterwards: “We didn’t really manage that today.”
Juri Knorr, the most successful shooter with eight goals, also said: “We have to accept that we were under pressure until the end. A lot of things haven’t gone as we had imagined.” The team “made it unnecessarily exciting,” said Patrick Groetzki.
At the break, the German team led with five goals – but it will be tight again
An intriguing question was how Knorr would adapt to the role of leader on the field. Although the 22-year-old, the youngest professional in the German squad, has already gained some experience at the 2021 World Cup in January and the Olympic Games in Tokyo, he had to sit out the continental title fights in 2022 in Hungary and Slovakia. Gislason had already planned him there as a manager on the floor, but because Knorr did not want to be vaccinated and therefore did not meet the requirements of the World Federation IHF, he was absent in Bratislava.
A lost year? Apparently not, because the Rhein-Neckar Löwen playmaker was the dominant player on the floor. Knorr radiated goal danger, played clever passes to the circle, set the pace: he was the German play designer of international class that had been missing for so long. And another stylistic device that the German selection had lost in recent tournaments worked as it did in the best of times: the counterattack. Either the Germans overran the opponent with a massive second wave, or the wingers were served millimeter-precise passes from goalkeeper Andreas Wolff. Wolff parried at a very high level and was thus another factor in the German game.
Consequently, the DHB selection went into the dressing room with a reassuring 18:13 lead, which only left the question of why the clearly superior team was not even more clearly ahead. The German team also found an answer to this, which coach Gislason might not like so much: the team kept throwing in sloppy actions, be it an unprepared shot, a great opportunity wasted, a technical error or failures in defense. And suddenly the Qataris had closed the gap to 25:26 nine and a half minutes before the end.
The national team completely lost the line in this phase. Qatar’s cover became increasingly rough, the German attackers rarely found conclusive answers. Finally, Philipp Weber and Jannick Kohlbacher redeemed their team with two important goals, but the man in the yellow jersey was the winner: goalkeeper Wolff. He saved a number of completely free shots from the Qatari team before limping off with an injury. “Andi said his calf was contracting,” said Gislason, who took him off the field as a precaution. After an ultrasound examination while still in the changing room, team doctor Philip Lübke gave the all-clear that it was a minor strain, which is now being treated intensively by DHB physiotherapists Reinhold Roth and Dennis Finke. And: “There is currently nothing standing in the way of a game against Serbia on Sunday.”
