EThere were two camps in the German team before the game against Norway. Christoph Steinert, who reported on it, couldn’t or didn’t want to say which was bigger, that of the France fans or that of the Spain fans. In any case, there would have been reasons to avoid both teams a bit more at this World Cup.
Steinert, the half-right from HC Erlangen, came up with the nice formula that France is currently “the best team in the world”, with the “best individual players that a nation can muster”, but Spain “maybe the most intelligent team in the world” . But it had to be one of the two opponents for the quarter-finals, and since Monday evening it has been certain that it will be France.
Due to the 26:28 against Norway in the final main round game in Kattowitz, the selection of the German Handball Federation (DHB) took second place in the group and will meet the record world champions in Gdansk this Wednesday. The French had secured the group victory with a 28:26 against Spain on Sunday. The team of national coach Alfred Gislason had already qualified for the round of the top eight on Saturday with a clear victory over the Netherlands.
France an “incredible power”
It was a close duel against Norway, which, however, was not carried out with the final consequences on either side for a long time. In any case, Gislason’s selection was able to recognize what she already knew anyway: that it will be difficult or impossible against the top teams if defense and attack are not operating at the upper end of the possibilities. The most successful thrower on Monday evening was Juri Knorr with eight goals, supported again by the strong goalkeeper Andreas Wolff. “We will take our hearts into our hands,” he said, looking ahead to the quarter-finals against France.
Otherwise, however, few were at the level of their skills and the previously shown performances. Although it was impressive at times how the Germans got into the game, there was hardly anything left of the lightness of the previous games, and a very faulty final phase destroyed the chance of success that still existed. With France, an “incredible power” is now waiting, as DHB sports director Axel Kromer put it, a team that has “introduced a new generation” and is “characterized by dynamism”.
“It’s very clear that we’re not doing our best game,” said Knorr on ARD. “Of course we live better with the defeat today than in two days. I still think that it annoys us all,” he said, looking at the France game: “I’m quite sure that we’ll appear with a different face on Wednesday.” The national coach struggled. “It’s really a shame how we dealt with very clear chances in the second half. We should have brought the game home from the six-meter line with a better rate,” said Gislason.
Actually, the Germans definitely wanted to take the momentum of the previous five victories with them, “don’t get a dent in it”, as Steinert said, so as not to get out of step. But the Norwegians were of a completely different caliber compared to their previous opponents. Their starting lineup, which included Bundesliga stars Sagosen, Reinkind (both from Kiel) and O’Sullivan (from Magdeburg), signaled that they wanted to take things seriously.
Gislason had to do without Drux, who signed off on game day with cold symptoms. The national coach varied his starting seven, Dahmke started for Mertens, and Birlehm was also in goal. However, this time – unlike his strong Norwegian counterpart Saeveras – he was not a factor at all. When he had to make room for Wolff again after nine minutes at a score of 5:7, he had not saved a ball, Wolff grabbed the first one instead.
Lukas Podolski is also watching
The fact that the Germans were behind for almost the entire first half also had other reasons: not much was going on in attack at the beginning, too many misses, too few ideas, it was thanks to Knorr’s throwing power that the DHB team stayed on, that 12:13 was his seventh goal. When Wolff parried the second penalty just before the break, Dahmke equalized to make it 16:16 (27 th ), and then Wolff destroyed another double chance, even the first lead was possible, but a technical error blocked the chance. Instead, it went into half-time with a 16:18.
In terms of atmosphere, Germans and Norwegians had to accept compromises this time, the stands in Katowice were emptier than last, it was just not a weekend anymore – but a prominent guest had come, the former German national soccer player Lukas Podolski, whose mother once played handball in Poland played at the highest level.
He saw that the second half started no better for the Germans than the first, and in one respect even worse: the number of missed shots increased. Häfner, Steinert, Groetzki, Golla, Dahmke, M’Bengue, also Knorr – everyone was allowed once, now it was Bergerud who drove the German throwers to despair. And on the other side Wolff, who kept his team in the game, and a cover that worked better and better.
Witzke had already managed to equalize to 20:20 (41st), and then it got even better for the Germans, who didn’t give up: First M’Bengue equalized, and then Kohlbacher also scored – 25:24 , the first lead (52nd). Even 26:24 was possible, but this time Knorr made a mistake. In this phase, the referees drew the displeasure of the Germans, with a severe disqualification against Witzke (54th) and an action classified as an offensive foul against Knorr. The Norwegians took advantage of that, pulled back by two goals and didn’t let this lead be taken away again.
