NOnly four German players from the original squad were spared a corona infection at this European Handball Championship. Johannes Golla, Lukas Zerbe, Philipp Weber and Julian Köster. Golla did not bring any particular resistance to the virus or effective home remedies into play when it came to “why” on Tuesday evening: “The four of us have recovered, maybe it’s because we didn’t have anything.” The German captain then pushed along after the widest grin you’ve seen from him these days: “Well, I don’t want to celebrate too soon. Let’s wait for the tests.” On Wednesday morning before departure, the remaining German players will be back; the results of the next and, for the time being, last PCR test should be available upon landing in Frankfurt.
The fact that the mood in the evening was good and should be on board was due to the final 30:29 victory against Russia. Golla had contributed a lot to this in constant use and with five goals. The DHB is now finishing the tournament in seventh or eighth place, and Golla, the last pivot in the team, said: “We played much better handball than what is now the result. In terms of team spirit, something has developed and we are not starting from scratch again for the coming tournaments.”
From the German side everything was there again against the Russians. Gripping defensive work, hair-raising mistakes. Russia scored three goals in 80 seconds after the break, the comfortable 16:12 became less and less. Germany was suddenly off the roll, had given the beautiful lead and once again received little help from the goalkeepers. Up front there was slapstick by Fabian Wiede and Philipp Weber, David Schmidt stumbled, Paul Drux let the ball lie: You rarely see something like that in Spain.
A merciful time penalty by the Montenegrin referees against Russia and a fine Kempa goal by Patrick Ziekers after a pass from Lukas Zerbes 40 seconds before the end were the ingredients of the victory that was secured very late – a victory that was visibly good for the battered Germans. “The dramatic ending suits this tournament. We were rewarded for a tough few weeks today,” said playmaker Weber. This was especially true for Julian Köster. The 21-year-old Gummersbacher from the second division was back in the regular seven against Russia, and there is little reason to do otherwise in the future.
National coach Gislason also seemed to be lifting some of the burden off his shoulders. He said: “I was sad every time the players got sick and couldn’t play anymore. I was then extremely grateful to the guys who made themselves available. I really enjoyed what the team showed. And when I think that we had the discussion that nobody wants to play for Germany anymore, I experienced completely the opposite.
