AOn Sunday, Alfred Gislason was in Kiel to watch handball. The state derby. When his former team plays, the national coach often gets a bittersweet feeling: It’s nice how strong they are, but what’s in it for me?
“Pekeler was really good,” said Gislason on Wednesday. He also praised Hendrik Pekeler’s partner in the defense of THW Kiel, Patrick Wiencek: “But he doesn’t play for the national team anymore.” Central defender Wiencek, 33, resigned from the DHB selection about a year ago. Pekeler’s status has been “paused” since summer 2021. They want to protect their battered bodies.
One is gone, the other should come back – that’s better than nothing, but thematically overshadows Gislason’s work, because questions about when, where and how automatically come up: waiting for Pekeler.
“Hopefully real competition”
Not this time, said the national coach on Wednesday before the two final games of the Euro Cup against Sweden this Thursday (6:35 p.m. on ARD) in Kristianstad and against Spain on Sunday (3:35 p.m. on ARD) in Berlin: “He is up to date the load is too high.” It is considered agreed that Pekeler, 31, will return in October for the first course after the summer break and then fill the role alongside captain Johannes Golla in defense. Gislason didn’t want to give the on/off international a free pass: “If he’s there in the fall, hopefully he’ll have real competition.”
It is possible that such messages are directed inwards. Golla and Pekeler are not considered the best of friends, and all those who held their bones at the Corona Euro in Bratislava and most recently at the world tournament in Poland and Sweden in January are skeptical about the upcoming comeback. However, the sporting help of Pekeler would be welcome. Gislason has to gently teach the team that he also skips this course and only joins when the European Championships appear on the horizon in Germany.
There are voices in local handball who think that the current week is actually ideal for incorporating Pekeler – and less suitable for making their debuts for Max Beneke, Renars Uscins, Justus Fischer and Philipp Ahouansou, as Gislason intends to do. But there are reasons for that. Firstly, the U-21 World Cup in June in Germany and Greece; A national players and juniors should move together. On the other hand, the national coach’s view of the tournaments after 2024.
Perhaps this meeting would also be suitable for asking Fabian Wiede. Gislason has ignored him since he canceled for Poland and Sweden because of a dental operation in January. It also doesn’t sound like there’s a second chance for the Berliner: “He was nominated but didn’t agree. I don’t want to talk about it.” That comes across as a resounding “no” for all sense of utility.
Search for relief and reinforcement
In the last week of practice of the season, Gislason did without or had to do without well-known players; Sebastian Heymann, Julius Kühn, Philipp Weber and Kai Häfner. Gislason says: “We have a mixture of the core from the last year and a half, two years and some young people.” Juri Knorr and Julian Köster, both born in 2000, have developed into the young people who form the core. Knorr played recently Brilliant for the Rhein-Neckar Löwen in the Cologne cup finals.
Köster has confidently assumed his leadership role at VfL Gummersbach and is considered a man for big clubs. Gislason put the label “indispensable” on him – when the Germans went swimming twice against the Danish B selection at the beginning of March (11:30 p.m., 9:28 p.m.), Köster had traveled to the Baltic Sea resort of Damp, but was then sick in the hotel bed and was able to do not form the central block with Golla as hoped. Gislason says: “The two are a well-rehearsed duo, they get along better and better. That is why his illness was so bitter.”
Keeping an eye out: National coach Alfred Gislason needs reinforcements with a view to the European Championships at home next year.
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Image: EPA
Köster symbolizes how thinly the German elite throwers are manned in key positions. So he is urgently needed at the back and in the backcourt, Golla and Knorr have to play through, appearances with 40 percent saved balls by goalkeeper Andreas Wolff are a prerequisite to achieve “something” – which for the DHB in relation to the tournament at home means semi-finals.
In the search for relief and reinforcement, it is therefore obvious to Hendrik Pekeler to build bridges. Köster could concentrate on his job in attack, Golla would get breaks. Alternative defensive formations would be possible. For some in the team, this waiting for Pekeler means biting the bullet. In relation to the big picture, the sporting advantages should outweigh the atmospheric disadvantages. That’s enough for the pragmatist Gislason to decide in favor of Pekeler.
