Handball European Championship Germany barely averts embarrassment against Austria
Juri Knorr (m.) and colleagues made mistakes after mistakes on offense
© Tom Weller / DPA
Poor performance: With a lot of luck, the German handball players avoided an embarrassment against Austria and achieved a draw. Reaching the European Championship semi-finals is still possible.
Germany’s handball players suffered another setback at the home European Championships. National coach Alfred Gislason’s team couldn’t score more than 22:22 (11:12) in the prestigious duel against Austria on Saturday and has to worry about making it to the semi-finals. In front of 19,750 fans, Juri Knorr, in his 50th appearance in the DHB jersey, was the best thrower of the German team with six goals, which acted erratically and incorrectly.
With 3:3 points, the DHB team only takes fourth place in Group I. Behind Olympic champion France (6:0), who beat Iceland 39:32, are Austria and Hungary (4:2 each). The Magyars, the next opponent of the DHB selection on Monday, defeated Croatia 29:26. The first two in the group reach the semi-finals of the European Handball Championship.
Playmaker Juri Knorr initially sits on the bench
Under the eyes of almost all of the 1978 world champions around jubilee Joachim Deckarm, to whom the spectators gave a special serenade before kick-off one day after his 70th birthday, the previously convincing director Knorr initially just sat on the bench. “He was a little ill before the last game,” said Gislason, explaining the move.
Philipp Weber from Champions League winner SC Magdeburg moved into the starting line-up for Knorr. But without their top playmaker from cup winners Rhein-Neckar Löwen, the DHB selection struggled from the start.
Luckily, goalkeeper Andreas Wolff was immediately up to speed in his 150th international match, as was the case in the 26:24 shaky win against Iceland. With his saves, the 32-year-old ensured that the Austrians were initially unable to pull away despite the proliferation of opportunities and numerous technical errors by the DHB team.
Ösi goalkeeper is in top form
But Constantin Möstl in the Austrian goal was also in top form and caused the German players to despair. In the middle of the first half, the European Championship hosts were down by two goals at 4:6 – and Gislason sent Knorr to the floor.
“A defeat against Austria – and the dream of the semi-finals would be over,” the national coach warned before the game and predicted a difficult task. He was proven right, because the outsider played carefree and extended the lead to four goals for the first time at 10:6.
Only in the final phase of the first half did the German team act a little more consistently in attack, in which Knorr played a part. The deficit was only one goal after the first 30 minutes. “We have to finish more confidently,” demanded DHB sports director Axel Kromer during the half-time break.
Heiner Brand became even clearer on ARD. “What we showed in attack wasn’t actually possible. That was so bad,” criticized the 2007 world champion coach.
After the change, the error festival continues
But the error festival continued after the change. The German players repeatedly failed because of Austria’s goalkeeper Möstl, but they didn’t make things too difficult for him with many unplaced throws.
In the middle of the second half, Gislason’s protégés were once again four goals behind at 16:20. Driven by the audience, Knorr and Co. fought their way back in the final phase and actually managed to equalize.
tis DPA
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