The last few days, said Renārs Uščins, “were not nice.” The many arithmetic scenarios that were raised after the puzzling drop in performance against Serbia on Saturday evening (27:30); The impending early end of the campaign of these actually so hopeful German handball players at the European Championships in Scandinavia – that would have taken its toll on him, admitted the backfield left-hander from TSV Hannover-Burgdorf. In general, national coach Alfreð Gíslason had to “calm down” the team “with all his experience”.
The last preliminary round game against Spain on Monday evening in front of 9,500 fans in Herning could have been a momentous evening for German handball. These 60 minutes are about the future of the team, the national coach and “no less than the future of our sport,” Bob Hanning, the managing director of Füchse Berlin, wanted to believe in a column.
And even though it would certainly have been a bit smaller, as Uščins said after the game, “a huge amount of pressure had built up for the team”. However, since the German handball players defeated the Spaniards in the end with a score of 34:32 (17:15) after a significant increase in performance, this pressure suddenly fell away.
“Austria, I take everything back”
It also helped that the Austrians had already won against Serbia. Those Austrians who the German goalkeeper Andreas Wolff recently accused of being “anti-handball”. “Austria, I take everything back,” he wrote on Instagram, typing a heart behind it. The German handball players knew that they no longer had to win with a three-goal difference, but that a draw would be enough.
Just balancing on the brink, the selection of the German Handball Federation now even takes 2-0 points into the main round; the elimination of the Serbs virtually wiped out the German defeat in terms of points. The team will now face either the top favorites Denmark or Portugal on Friday – also in Herning, Denmark. “This is huge for us,” said Uščins as he wiped the sweat from his face. This is very valuable for the development of his team. “Now we can go into the main round with a smile.”
Uščins, 23, suddenly became one of the most famous faces in German handball with his surprising win of the 2024 Olympic silver medal. Here an autograph, there an interview: the enormous attention quickly became too much for him, as he now explains in a beautiful ARD documentary. Always telling the same story annoyed him, said Uščins. And even more so, that only the performance counts and not the person behind it.
One can certainly see this as a social criticism from a very reflective young man, about whose condition national coach Alfreð Gíslason was publicly worried – not because Uščins had suffered a hand injury at the beginning of this season, but because he feared for his protégé’s mental health. But the days off over New Year’s Eve were good for him, reported Uščins. “I notice that the energy is coming back into the body more and more.”
A painting of an attack
Which must have sounded like a splendid understatement to the Spaniards. In fact, Uščins was voted Man of the Match. Eight goals in ten attempts: That’s a top value for a backcourt player. When Uščins converted an assist from left winger Lukas Mertens into a Kempa trick nine minutes before the end, he also completed a painting of an attack.
However, Uščin’s figure was essentially just a pars per toto for the spectacular leap in performance that almost all field players had made in this game, which was a single crunch time. Julian Köster from Gummersbach and playmaker Juri Knorr, who has been earning his living in Ålborg, Denmark since the summer, also achieved unusually high hit rates by giving each other the necessary space by crossing quickly in the backcourt.
Worth a look
