Despite Corona: German handball players win against Poland

Despite Corona
The virus put nine players out of action – but the German handball players still won against Poland

Cheering among the German handball players: They were able to assert themselves in the third preliminary round game of the European Championship despite Corona-related failures.

© Marijan Murat / DPA

The German handball players had to accept several failures. The coronavirus is to blame. But it didn’t hurt the team. They were able to prevail in the game against Poland. It her third win.

After their small EM coup, the German handball players, who were severely plagued by corona, hopped arm in arm across the pitch in Bratislava. Even the usually so serious national coach Alfred Gislason smiled more broadly at the side of his happy core squad than ever before at this European Championship. “The team showed outstanding character”, enthused the Icelander on Tuesday evening after the surprising 30:23 (15:12) in the group final against Poland. “It’s great that they can perform under these conditions and under this pressure.”

The 62-year-old had to do without nine players who tested positive, just 14 players were available to him, including the only goalkeeper Johannes Bitter, who was nominated at short notice – nevertheless, the DHB selection delivered a sensational performance against the previously unbeaten Poles. “What the team tore off in the 60 minutes was one of the best and greatest moments we’ve experienced so far,” said playmaker Philipp Weber. “That we delivered such a performance makes us extremely proud.”

“Huge compliment” from the national coach

The badly decimated DHB selection for the next phase of the tournament was already qualified beforehand, but now they are also taking the ideal number of points with them. The first opponent there is defending champions Spain on Thursday. With a similarly passionate performance as against the Poles, nothing seems to be out of the question at the moment, despite the Corona outbreak. The best thrower in front of 1076 spectators in Bratislava was EM newcomer Christoph Steinert with nine goals. Especially the newbies. What the 21-year-old second division professional Julian Köster showed in Bratislava was as outstanding as it was surprising.

Only the national coach was not surprised. “I know the individual class very well,” said Gislason. “Huge compliments on what they showed. Outstanding defence, outstanding attack – there from the first minute.” Looking forward to the next game against the extremely experienced Spaniards, captain Johannes Golla said: “It won’t get any easier. We knew that the game against Poland was extremely important.”

Short-term corona surprises

Regardless of the result, what happened in Bratislava will probably remain unique in the history of German handball: After five other positive corona tests, national coach Gislason only reacted on Monday evening and nominated five players at short notice. The 62-year-old was even lucky that Bitter, Rune Dahmke, Fabian Wiede, Paul Drux and Sebastian Firnhaber, who only arrived on Tuesday morning, arrived in Slovakia on time and then tested negative for Corona. Otherwise, the DHB squad would have been significantly more decimated.

And because left winger Marcel Schiller and goalkeeper Till Klimpke also tested positive immediately before kick-off, the 39-year-old Bitter was the only available keeper in the German team. However, the 2007 world champion did not need a long period of adjustment. Already in the first round the veteran parried some throwing attempts by the Poles. And the rest of the team seemed to say to themselves in view of the considerable personnel problems: Now more than ever! European Championship newcomers Köster and Steinert were in top form at times. There was no other way. Because otherwise there was hardly anyone there.

Squad cast for the next games still unclear

“Merciless emotions. It was just amazing what the boys showed,” said DHB sports director Axel Kromer at halftime. “We had a lot of energy and excitement to fight back,” said Steinert. In addition to Bitter, Drux, Wiede, Dahmke and Firnhaber are also likely to have had little sleep the night before, but the DHB selection defended itself with all its might against the Corona outbreak and the Poles, who had been so sovereign in the tournament before. Because in addition to Klimpke, the second goalkeeper Andreas Wolff was also out due to Corona, Bitter had to play through.

And when the people in front ran out of breath, the oldie from HSV Hamburg was there. When the young Köster carelessly lost the ball in his own half in the 39th minute, Bitter shone with an outstanding save against the Pole who appeared free in front of him. Bitter had hardly trained handball in the past few days. The entire German team was also unable to prepare for the game with final training because they had to wait for the results of their corona tests. “There’s never been anything like it,” said Gislason on ZDF.

It has never happened before that a national coach does not yet know which squad will be available to him in two days for the first main round match of the European Championship. In order to have at least 16 players again, the DHB nominated goalkeeper Daniel Rebmann from Frisch Auf Göppingen and Patrick Zieker from TVB Stuttgart on Tuesday. Both are due to join the team on Wednesday morning. Whether there will be more corona cases after that remains to be seen. However, the DHB selection has not yet suffered any sporting damage.

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DPA

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