Germany – Portugal 32:30 (11:11)
The German handball players started the main round of the European Championship with a victory. The team of national coach Alfreð Gíslason won at the start of the second phase of the tournament with 32:30 (11:11) against Portugal.
With the victory, Germany now has four points in the main round group and therefore has the best chance of making it to the European Championship semi-finals. In front of 6,145 spectators in the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, backcourt player Miro Schluroff was the best thrower for the selection of the German Handball Federation (DHB) with seven goals.
In the first half, goalkeeper Andreas Wolff kept Germany in the game with strong saves. The German offensive, on the other hand, was only partially consistent and benefited primarily from the Portuguese’s mistakes.
After the break, as the game became more and more heated, the German backcourt player Schluroff took on a lot of responsibility. The Gummersbach player scored all seven of his goals in the second half. The German team was also able to compensate for a very controversial red card for captain Johannes Golla (53rd) in the final phase by significantly improving their performance.
“A huge increase in performance”
Golla himself described his action as an “unfortunate follow-up” and added: “Of course I don’t hope that there will be a ban for this.”
Schluroff said on ARD after the game: “If this results in a ban, then I have to say, that would be a really nice thing.” Regarding the narrow win against Portugal, the backcourt player said: “A huge burden has been lifted. That was an incredibly important game for the outcome of this group, and now the joy is simply enormous.”
Goalkeeper Wolff said the victory after the significant improvement in performance showed “that we always have to keep our heads up and stay positive.” The national coach saw it similarly: “We made so many technical mistakes in the first half, we just went a bit overboard. But the second half was really great, a huge improvement in performance.”
On Saturday Germany continues against co-hosts Norway. Other main round opponents are world champions Denmark and European champion France. The first two teams in the group reach the semi-finals.
