Handball-EM
DHB team beats Croatia – and moves into the final
Finale, here we come! The DHB selection let the Croatians get to it again, but in the end they deserved to win. Now the top favorite Denmark is most likely waiting.
Germany’s handball players are reaching for European Championship gold. The selection of national coach Alfred Gislason prevailed in the semi-finals against feared opponents Croatia with 31:28 (17:15) and secured their first medal at a European Championships since the title in 2016. In the final on Sunday, the Olympic silver medalist will face either the Danish high-flyers led by world handball player Mathias Gidsel or the outsider Iceland.
In front of 15,000 spectators in Herning, Denmark, Lukas Zerbe was the DHB team’s best thrower with six goals. For the German selection, it was the first competitive win against the team of former national coach Dagur Sigurdsson since 2019. In the immediate preparation for the European Championship, Germany won two test games.
By reaching the final, the DHB team has already secured a total bonus of 430,000 euros. If Germany becomes European champion for the third time, it will increase to 575,000 euros.
Sigurdsson’s freak out heats up the mood
It was a very special game for Sigurdsson, as he sensationally led Germany to the title in 2016. Andreas Wolff, Jannik Kohlbacher and Rune Dahmke were already there from the current DHB squad. “The friendship will pause for 60 minutes,” Kohlbacher announced.
There was no doubt about that, at least after Sigurdsson’s freak out the evening before. In a tirade of abuse, the 52-year-old denounced the tight schedule and travel strains for his team. Unlike Germany, Croatia recently played two games in two days and had to travel from Sweden to Denmark on the game-free Thursday. The EHF announced adjustments to the schedules for future tournaments.
Wolff is angry – and parries
In the early stages, anger was particularly evident in Wolff, who regularly beat up the people in front of him. Without defense chief Tom Kiesler, who is still ill, Germany revealed big gaps and allowed the Croatians some easy goals from the circle. The Adria team also slammed the resin ball past Wolff time and time again from the backcourt – especially long-time Bundesliga professional Ivan Martinovic.
Wolff initially made up for his own ball losses in the attacking game with saves, so that after a quarter of an hour the score was 7:7. Overall, Germany found it difficult to cover the World Cup runners-up offensively. Playmaker Knorr posed a lot of goal threat in the first half, but was too playful at times.
Justus Fischer blocks and blocks and blocks
After Wolff’s eight saves before half-time, Gislason saw no reason for a change in goal. Thanks to a strong defensive performance, Germany pulled ahead to 20:16. The initially loud Croatian fans fell silent during this phase. And suddenly everything worked for the DHB squad. Circulator Justus Fischer in particular stood out with three blocks within a few seconds.
“How well are we defending right now,” enthused handball icon Stefan Kretzschmar at Dyn. With the score at 26:19 a quarter of an hour before the end of the game, very few people believed in a Croatian handball miracle. Also because Germany’s wingers Lukas Mertens and Lukas Zerbe played almost flawlessly.
In the final phase, a few mistakes crept into the German game again, but the DHB selection could not miss the victory.
In the second semi-final, Denmark will face Iceland at 8:30 p.m. The Danes are the top favorites in the game and in the entire tournament – and therefore probably Germany’s opponents in the final.
Note: This article has been updated.
DPA
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