If Aleš Pajovič earned his money as a poker player and not as a handball coach, people would have said he was against the Germans all in gone. His team from Austria was leading by four goals with a quarter of an hour to go and the sensation was close. They had the big favorite on the verge of defeat. In the otherwise loud arena in Cologne everything had become quiet, you could also say: there was a state of paralysis.
But suddenly Pajovič increased the risk for no apparent reason. The 45-year-old Slovenian pushed everything he had into the middle. Literally, because he opted for the power game of seven against six. It is a daring tactical variant in which you sacrifice your goalkeeper in favor of an additional field player in the attacking game in order to gain an advantage when you have the ball. The risk is obvious: the goal is empty, and if the substitute doesn’t get back to the bench quickly enough, easy goals will be scored for the opponent.
