Emotions ran high once again. There were just under three minutes left to play when Julian Köster was thrown to the ground in an extremely rough manner. A pack formed in front of the Danish goal. Seven meters for Germany, a goal from Christoph Steinert, plus a two-minute penalty for Denmark.
But it was already too late, the world champion was still leading by three goals in this semi-final, and even if a lot is possible in handball – this turnaround that most of the 19,750 spectators in the Cologne Arena were hoping for was not it. In the end it was 26:29, and it seemed as if there wasn’t enough strength on the pitch or in the stands on Friday evening, even though Alfred Gislason’s team was once again given a big round of applause. It deserved it too.
For a half, the Germans stood up to the big favorites, with highly emotional handball and aggressive defense that went to the limit. At the break they were even leading by two goals, 14:12, but after that the Danes still had one or two options ready and the Germans were noticeably losing their strength and opportunities. After 45 minutes, director Juri Knorr was exhausted, Julian Köster had also been in the red zone for a long time, and there was no longer an adequate replacement.
While the Danes are in the final of the European Championship against France on Sunday (5.45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Handball Championship and on ARD), the Germans will play against Sweden for third place beforehand (3 p.m.). There would still be the possibility of making the tournament a considerable success. After all, it’s not just about a medal, but also about a valuable bonus: qualification for the Olympics, the French and Danes are already there, the winner in the game for third place in this constellation would also be.
In the previous game there was a real handball thriller in France’s 34:30 win against Sweden after extra time – which it didn’t look like at first. During the first half the French were already ahead by seven goals, but after the break the Swedish goalkeeper Andreas Palicka turned things up, his team gained a two-goal lead, but then there was a spectacular punch line: with a converted free throw As time expired, Elohim Prandi scored to make it 27:27. In extra time, the Swedes barely got a foot on the ground.
Häfner and Kastening not there
For the Germans, the evening began with two pieces of bad news. The first was that Kai Häfner would be missing, he had left for personal reasons. The second was that Timo Kastening was also out due to an infection. That meant starting seven appearances for Renars Uscins and Lukas Zerbe, and both of them, like Rune Dahmke, were in the center of the action. While Köster threw hastily, Uscins and Dahmke scored the first goals. At the end of the first half, Uscins was the best thrower with four goals from five attempts, Dahmke had converted all three of his goals.
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However, the foundation of the German strategy was an extremely aggressive defense, which made life difficult for the Danish backcourt, but it was a fine line. Sebastian Heymann received his second time penalty in the 18th minute. And going forward, the Germans made too many mistakes across the team. The fact that they always defended a narrow lead was mainly due to goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, who got better and better into the game after an unremarkable start. When he made his sixth save against Simon Pytlick and gave Knorr a three-goal lead for the first time (13:10), the Germans had their golden moment. In this phase, with fewer mistakes, a bigger lead would have been possible.
The throwing rate wasn’t right
The Danish coach Nikolaj Jacobsen made a change after the break, Emil Nielsen replaced Niklas Landin in goal, and they attacked in front to make it 7:6 – with success, after a few minutes the German lead was lost. The question from Gislason’s team’s perspective was: Would there be enough energy for the second 30 minutes at this level? This was supported by the fact that Wolff was still fully involved in the game. Against: The fact that the German attackers needed eight minutes to score their first goal out of the game – through Uscins.
Once again it was the shooting percentage that was wrong and that ensured that the chances were visibly dwindling – and the same also applied to the forces. After a little more than half, the Danes were ahead by three goals for the first time at 18:21. Gislason now had to give his most important players breaks, Köster, Knorr, the second suit was not at the same level. After a 0:3 run the score was 21:26, and Wolff also felt as if the plug had been pulled.
