Germany’s handball players fought their way back into the medal race at the home European Championships with a win against Hungary and opened the door wide open to the semi-finals. National coach Alfred Gislason’s team won against the Eastern Europeans 35:28 (18:17) on Monday evening and now has progress in their own hands again. In front of 19,750 spectators in the sold-out Cologne Arena, Julian Köster was the best German thrower with eight goals.
With 5:3 points, the DHB selection is in second place before the final game against Croatia on Wednesday (8.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Handball Championship and on ARD) behind the already qualified Olympic champions France (8:0). Hungary and Austria (both 4:4) also still have a chance of reaching the semi-finals. The best two teams qualify for the top four round.
With the loss of right winger Timo Kastening due to an infection, the DHB selection had to accept a damper in their mood shortly before kick-off. Christoph Steinert started for him on the wing. “We have to deal with our opportunities much better. “I hope that we can play a more variable attacking game,” said Gislason.
However, the Icelander couldn’t be completely satisfied with the first few minutes. Although his players didn’t act as statically as before – apart from Köster, who was consistently impressive, the DHB professionals seemed anything but accurate. What was even more worrying was that Germany’s life insurance company Andreas Wolff didn’t come into play at all. The 32-year-old was unable to save any of Hungary’s first six shots.
Take a deep breath: National coach Alfred Gislason sees an improved German national team. : Image: EPA
After the next goal to make it 7:8, Gislason put U-21 world champion David Späth in the goal. But the emotional young star was initially left behind. After 20 minutes, the keeper was able to celebrate for the first time and, as usual, he celebrated his strong reflexes very emotionally.
The good news from the German perspective was that the team had largely regained its tempo game after misfires against Iceland and Austria. Sebastian Heymann completed two attacks worth seeing, while Rune Dahmke failed miserably. Hungary was always successful from the backcourt.
Both teams acted anything but confidently. Both the Hungarians and the European Championship hosts made hair-raising technical errors at times. DHB sports director Axel Kromer was still satisfied at halftime. “Now we really have the flow of the game and are making great throws from the backcourt. If we continue to attack like this then things will look really good,” said the 47-year-old.
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Germany came out of the locker room much fresher and gratefully accepted Hungary’s many bad passes. As the DHB team became more and more confident and took the lead with 20:17, the Eastern Europeans took the first time out. At this point, less than four minutes had been played.
The DHB team was now running hot. Gislason clenched his fists on the sidelines, playmaker Juri Knorr shook himself awake with blows to the chest and Dahmke heated up the spectators. In the 39th minute, Wolff, who had been disappointing until then, was also able to celebrate his first save.
Around 13 minutes before the end of the game, Germany had a comfortable five-goal lead for the first time (27:22). The DHB team no longer gave up this lead and thus achieved the best possible starting position in the fight for the last semi-final ticket in Group I.