Thanks to an outstanding Andreas Wolff in goal, the German handball players passed their European Championship dress rehearsal and got in the mood for the tournament with their second friendly win against their feared opponents Croatia. The selection of national coach Alfred Gislason continued the strong performance on Thursday in Zagreb and prevailed in Hanover with 33:27 (16:12) against the vice world champion.
In front of 10,427 spectators, Lukas Zerbe and Renars Uscins were the best German throwers with five goals each against the team of former national coach Dagur Sigurdsson. Wolff played the biggest role in the victory with 20 saves and one goal. The veteran saved a seven-meter penalty twice.
After a media day on Monday, the DHB entourage will travel to their EM quarters in Silkeborg in Denmark, which they already knew from last year, on Tuesday. On Thursday, the Olympic silver medalist starts the tournament against Austria in Herning, around 30 minutes away. The preliminary round games against Serbia and Spain then take place every two days.
Only the two best-placed teams in each preliminary group reach the second phase of the tournament, the main round. There Germany would probably meet Olympic champions Denmark, defending champions France as well as fourth-placed World Cup winners Portugal and Norway. Given this difficult draw, Gislason spoke of the most difficult tournament of his coaching career.
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