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The German handball players demanded everything from the big favorites from Denmark in a thrilling semi-final and showed a strong performance, especially in the first half. In the end it wasn’t quite enough. Tournament host Germany lost to the reigning world champions 26:29 (14:12) on Friday evening (January 26, 2024).
You can make it easy and say: the young team is inferior to the experienced one, failing because of the routine and the world class that runs through the entire Danish squad. But anyone who saw Juri Knorr after the end of the game knew that this result was anything but easy for the German playmaker to explain. “This feels like a huge missed opportunity,” said Knorr in an interview with Sportschau.
“For me it’s not about being successful in the end. If we lose by a goal in the last second, then we have to accept that, but I don’t want to lose in such a way that after the game I have the feeling that I don’t have everything, “To have given everything in such a big game.”
“We wanted to take away the fun of handball for them”
Knorr was only on the bench in the final phase, when the German team was still fighting to keep up. Apparently felt exhausted and was replaced by Philipp Weber. The 23-year-old was very self-critical. “It can’t be a question of strength, because Gidsel and Pytlick also play for 60 minutes and get into every duel,” said Knorr. “I blame myself for not doing that. I don’t know why, I have to go harder in the duels and have to take on more responsibility.”
The German team put up such a fight for long stretches, played aggressively in defense and unnerved the Danish world-class backcourt around Mathias Gidsel and Simon Pytlick. “We wanted to take away the fun of handball, and we succeeded brilliantly in the first half,” said Sebastian Heymann. Germany led 14:12, the Cologne hall with 19,750 spectators shook, the sensation against the top favorites seemed tangible.
Encouraged by the hall, which, unlike handball, whistled at the Danes’ possession of the ball and celebrated defensive actions like goals, the German team seemed to have the rush for the “perfect day” that they needed. The 21-year-old Renars Uscins, who briefly replaced Kai Häfner (left for personal reasons), rode the wave of euphoria and scored five times and was named “Player of the Game”.
Jacobsen pulls aces out of his sleeve
But in the second half, Denmark coach Nicolaj Jacobsen pulled two aces out of his sleeve. One was named Emil Nielsen, the goalkeeper from FC Barcelona came in for Niklas Landin and took away the flow of the German offensive with eight saves in 30 minutes. In the attack, Jacobsen repeatedly took Emil Nielsen off the field to create a numerical advantage at the front. “You have to say that with the seven against six the Danes took away our defense and used their chances,” said captain and head of defense Johannes Golla, “that turned the game around.”
National coach Alfred Gislason also found the reason for the defeat in the opponent. “It was a very, very strong game from my team, in the end the Danes managed it with their width and their routine,” said Gislason, highlighting the first half, “in which we were the better team against Denmark.” After all, that is statement enough as to how well the DHB team kept up with the clear favorites.
The German handball players had achieved their big goal of the semi-finals, but despite the great fight they were denied their big dream of the final. On Sunday it’s against Sweden (3 p.m., live on ARD) for third place and direct qualification for the Olympic handball tournament in Paris. Denmark will play the final against France (5.45 p.m., live on ARD), it is a new edition of the Olympic final in Tokyo 2021.
Knorr – “Don’t want to be such an athlete”
The chance of a medal made most of the German national players leave the table with their heads held high – playmaker Juri Knorr, on the other hand, threatened to eat himself into a hole. “I don’t want to be the kind of athlete who is happy when he reaches the semi-finals,” said the four-time goalscorer to ARD. “Of course it’s a great success, but as long as the tournament is running, I want to do everything I can to ensure that the greatest possible outcome comes from it. It’s not so much about the title for me, but about having given everything, that’s the feeling I have today not.”
In view of his team’s great performance, this is an overly harsh self-criticism, but it shows: the young German national handball team is far from having enough.
Desiree Krause, Sportschau, January 26, 2024 11:03 p.m