Handball defeat against Croatia
Knorr apologizes to the fans over the hall microphone
As of: 10:44 a.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
“Without courage we have no chance,” said Knorr before the semi-final against Denmark
After the clear defeat at the end of the first half of the season, the DHB team will now face Denmark in the semi-finals. Juri Knorr calls for courage for the game, Rune Dahmke hopes for a “small miracle” against the clearly favored Danes.
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Germany clearly loses the last group game at the European Handball Championship against Croatia. The meaningless game, in which many reservists play, will be a disappointment for the fans. Playmaker Knorr then finds honest words.
The tension was already gone an hour before the throw-off. The German national handball team qualified for the semi-finals of the European Championship in the final group game without any help of their own. Since Hungary lost to France, the do-or-die game against Croatia turned into an exhibition game. Germany lost 24:30 and had their mood dampened before the semi-final against Denmark on Friday (8:30 p.m., ZDF and in the WELT live ticker).
National coach Alfred Gislason took advantage of the apparent insignificance of the game to rest his stars. For example, Juri Knorr, Kai Häffner and Julian Köster sat on the bench for a long time, especially in the second half. An understandable decision by Gislason – the strain on the players at the European Championships is extreme. The game against Croatia was the seventh game in the past two weeks.
Germany advances to the semi-finals early
The German handball players are in the semi-finals of the European Championship ahead of schedule. Thanks to the victories of Iceland and France, the DHB team can afford a defeat against Croatia in the final main round game.
The 64-year-old gave the second row a chance. The players didn’t take advantage of it, missed a number of opportunities in the second half and were ultimately responsible for the defeat. “If you have 24 missed throws, it’s not nice. We gave players the chance to show themselves, but we had an incredible number of missed shots. I can’t say ‘great’ if we reject so much,” said Gislason.
Instead of an exciting game for the semi-finals, the 20,000 fans in Cologne experienced a game in which the best were spared. Nevertheless, the mood in the arena was good. This was also the experience of Juri Knorr, who addressed the audience via the indoor microphone after the clear defeat: “I’m sorry for everyone who bought tickets for this game,” began the top German European Championship goalscorer with 43 goals added: “We are in the semi-finals, but maybe we thought about it too much before the game and switched off in our heads. This is extremely painful for me and everyone. We’re in the semi-finals now, but that’s not the mentality we want to play with.”
European Handball Championship: Sweden and Denmark are resting their stars
Knorr knows how important the spectators are for the team – especially in the semi-final against the top favorites Denmark. “The fans are a huge factor. It’s been huge so far, but we still need more. We need twice as much. Everyone has to shout for us. Every single person must scream for us and whip us forward. The spectators have to make the day special. We need the people out there. Otherwise we have no chance. Let’s stand together, together as Halle,” said Knorr.
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The Danes, who have made it through the tournament so far, also spared their top players in the final group game. Immediately there was the first defeat of the European Championship – 25:28 against Slovenia. The Swedes, who had already qualified for the semi-finals, obviously did not approach their game against Norway with the utmost determination and lost by a score of 23:33.