Germany’s handball players suffered a surprising setback in the second European Championship main round game. National coach Alfred Gislason’s team couldn’t score more than 22:22 (11:12) against outsiders Austria on Saturday and now no longer has the semi-finals in their own hands.
Only a show of strength in the final quarter of an hour and another great Andreas Wolff in goal secured the German team a potentially valuable point. The DHB selection was already behind 16:21 twelve minutes before the end before Germany, egged on by the 19,750 fans, caught up goal by goal and equalized in a nerve-wracking final phase.
The best German thrower was Juri Knorr with six goals. The Lanxess Arena fortress has had a scratch since Saturday evening: so far, Germany had won all tournament games in Cologne’s “Cathedral of Handball”. Nikola Bilyk (5 goals) scored most often for Austria.
Germany depends on support
For the medal games, the German team (3:3 points) now has to win the remaining games and is dependent on support: Germany will play the other games on Monday (8.30 p.m./ZDF and Dyn) against Hungary (4:2) and on Wednesday ( 8.30 p.m./ARD and Dyn) against Croatia (1:5). Only the top two in the group of six advance to the semi-finals. France is the leader with 6:0 points.
Germany, who initially competed without Knorr, who was weakened by a cold, showed their weakest performance of the tournament in the first half and appeared extremely nervous – in complete contrast to the still unbeaten Austrians. Goalkeeper Constantin Möstl played a very strong game against the cheeky outsider.
Knorr replacement starts incorrectly
Instead of Knorr, Philipp Weber initially directed the German attack in the middle. In front of Joachim “Jo” Deckarm, who was sung a birthday serenade the day after his 70th anniversary, the Magdeburg native made two missed throws and a technical error within the first four minutes.
It wasn’t until the 9th minute that Timo Kastening scored Germany’s first lead at 3-2. But that didn’t bring Germany any security. Wolff once again performed outstandingly in his 150th international match and, among other things, saved two seven-meter penalties in the first half. Austria played itself into a frenzy with aggressive defense in front of the extremely strong Möstl.
Gislason: “Damn it!”
The Alpine handball players frenetically celebrated every successful action. The DHB men, on the other hand, seemed to hang their heads a little further after every missed throw. At the first two-goal deficit, Gislason shouted angrily during a time-out: “Damn it!” His team had to “use their heads up front”. The deficit grew to four goals at 6:10 (23rd) and 7:11 (24th).
Even Knorr, who replaced the hapless Weber in the 13th minute, initially didn’t help the DHB men to have any more wit. Rather, the German players repeatedly took difficult throws, some of which they missed miserably.
World champion coach Brand at the break: “So bad”
“The fact that we are only one goal behind is actually a miracle considering the shooting rate,” said DHB sports director Axel Kromer at halftime. World champion coach Heiner Brand was even clearer during the break on ARD: “What we showed in attack wasn’t actually possible, it was so bad.”
Germany came out of the locker room improved. The 13:13 (34th minute) was the first equalizer since the 12th minute, but the German team simply couldn’t get its offensive problems under control. Instead of taking the lead themselves, the Austrians pulled away again. Despite being 16:21 behind (48′), Germany fought its way back up to 21:22 – and at least secured the point.
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2024-01-20 21:08:55
#Germany #plays #draw #Austria
