The massive French around Dika Mem were still too strong for the young Juri Knorr (left) and Julian Köster (right).
Photo: AFP/Jane Skarzynski
In the defeat he showed that Andreas Wolff is a real sportsman. He applauded fairly when Remi Desbonnet, the opponent’s goalkeeper, was named player of the match after France’s 35-28 (16-16) win over Germany in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. “He played a fantastic game, you have to acknowledge that,” said the German keeper, who was also the strongest individual in his team on Wednesday evening in Gdansk.
Desbonnet, who is the second man in Vincent Gerard’s shadow, had saved almost every second ball, his saving rate was 47 percent. Again and again the German throwers, who had netted almost every throw in the first half, failed because of him. “France has world-class players in every position, and that also applies to the second goalkeeper,” congratulated Wolff.
Conversely, this is the sobering realization after the clear knockout that the German handball players cannot hold it like that. Keeper Andreas Wolff alone is absolutely world class, as he repeatedly proves in the Champions League with the Polish top club Kielce. Especially in the most important part of the team, the backcourt, the Germans are hopelessly inferior to the French, which Wolff was able to hide with his saves in the first half.
With Nedim Remili and Dika Mem, the French Olympic champions have two strong left-handers who, with their power, force every defense to open the defensive wall – and thus tear gaps for the equally strong pivots Ludovic Fabregas and Nicolas Tournat. “We don’t have the throwing power in the backcourt that the French have,” said national coach Alfred Gislason, summing up the core problem, although his team fought bravely and held a draw until 20 minutes before the end. “We’re just running out of breath in attack.”
It is above all the lack of quality in the half positions that the German handball players lack. One person who might be able to help more at the European Championships at home in a year’s time is the left backcourt player Julian Köster from Gummersbach. However, in his first year in the Bundesliga, the 22-year-old has not yet built up the substance to hold out for both teams in such a tough tournament – the quarter-finals were the seventh game in 13 days. Köster, an elegant handball player, did a really hard job in the middle block of the defence. “But he lacked the strength to attack,” said Gislason.
The same can be said about Juri Knorr, the equally young playmaker from the Rhein-Neckar Löwen, who showed some enthusiastic performances at the World Cup. He, too, reached his limits when the decision against France was approaching. Symptoms of the decreasing energy were not only his misses, but also numerous turnovers. However, since he combines great strategic potential and an enormous goal threat in his game, Gislason’s hopes rest primarily on the young director.
If the selection of the German Handball Association wants to play for a medal at the EM 2024, it is probably dependent on a comeback of the best German defender: pivot Hendrik Pekeler from THW Kiel. The 2016 European champions are currently on a break from international football to get his strained body back into shape – and he has signaled he could envisage a return. “I hope so, of course,” said Gislason. No wonder, because Pekeler is also world class in attack.
But first there are still two games to come at the World Cup, the games for places five to eight. “At the moment it feels very difficult, almost impossible,” answered right winger Patrick Groetzki when asked if he could motivate himself to do so. The national coach also pushed the thought away. “I have to digest this quarter-final first,” he said.
In this placement round, which begins for the German team on Friday in Stockholm with the encounter against the African champions Egypt, it is not about the famous Golden Pineapple, but for the DHB about the lucrative and also sportingly valuable right to hold a qualifying tournament in spring to organize the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. But with two wins, fifth place is required.
