Denmark’s Mathias Gidsel at the European Handball Championship: Golden boy in the red tsunami

There was a lot of gold in the game for Mathias Gidsel this evening. A golden ball for the most valuable player of the tournament, a golden printed championship jersey, the large golden bowl for the winner of the tournament and finally the golden confetti shower for the new European handball champion. And at the center: the world handball player. Of course, Gidsel was also the top scorer in the continental title fights with 68 goals in nine games, meaning Gidsel led the Danes to the last missing title of his generation.

The small kingdom had to wait what seemed like an unreal 14 years for this triumph at the European Championships, which, due to the enormous density of world-class teams, is more difficult to win than the world title, which Denmark has won four times in a row. Now the Danes have won the World Cup, the Olympic Games and the European Championship in a row, and they couldn’t be more dominant. Only the great generation of French people around Nikola Karabatic have achieved this before them.

The second best goalscorer of the European Championship tournament was Simon Pytlick, who contributed 64 goals to the title win, which also includes the outstanding players. Apart from the Portuguese in the preliminary round, no team has managed to slow down this duo, which complements each other so congenially: on the left backcourt the right-hander Pytlick, on the right the left-hander Gidsel, complemented by veteran Rasmus Lauge or Thomas Arnoldsen, who has just recovered from a broken tibia in the middle.

Of course, the entire Danes team is an ensemble of world-class players, the world’s best goalkeeper Emil Nielsen and the pivot Magnus Saugstrup being examples. The Danish game is characterized by a remarkably attractive simplicity: in an aggressive defense, ball wins are provoked or bad throws, which Nielsen immediately converts into fast counter-attacks. The Danes’ tempo game is the best of all the top teams, the attack rolls over the opponents like a red tsunami. The Danes can decide an entire game in minutes.

“It is impossible to take Gidsel out of the game,” said Germany goalkeeper Andreas Wolff

Gidsel and Pytlick once again stand out from this group of extra experts. Nobody lets the ball circulate in the backcourt at such breathtaking speed, close to the defense until a gap is found. They both pose an immense threat to score, they are hard to keep in one-on-one games, but they can also finish from the back and have an eye for the circle player. “It is impossible to take Gidsel out of the game,” Germany goalkeeper Andreas Wolff said. And if you do succeed, “then you still have Pytlick.”

The perfidious thing about their game is that everyone knows exactly what’s coming, but no one can prevent it. Coach Nikolaj Jacobsen promotes this fast-paced style of play and has the ideal pace setter in Gidsel. The 26-year-old world handball player determines the pace and rhythm of his team’s game. Without him, the Danes’ game immediately loses its impact. That’s why the rather slight, 1.90 meter tall athlete also leads in another category of the tournament: no player has stood on the floor for so long. Gidsel accelerated Denmark’s performances for a full eight hours and 20 minutes. Which is all the more astonishing, especially given his extremely strenuous style of play. The German Lukas Zerbe achieved a comparatively modest 6.39 hours.

In every attack, Gidsel attacks the opponent’s defense at top speed and without regard to his health, which is a dubious pleasure against defensive stalwarts like Tom Kiesler. His lightning-fast physical illusions benefit him, as the German defender also discovered in the final: Kiesler came a step too late, caught Gidsel by the neck and had to leave the field with a red card.

There he stood, the Danes’ golden boy, patiently giving interviews. With gold confetti on his body, red welts on his neck and scratches on his face, memories of the enemy’s attempts to stop him. He’s used to it, said Mathias Gidsel, it’s getting more and more every game. He will therefore not win a beauty prize. But there is no shortage of prices.