German handball players have big problems in the last World Cup test

One of the most important mottos in handball is just don’t throw the goalkeeper warm. But that’s exactly what the German national players did in the last test match before leaving for the Handball World Cup. They threw and threw on Saturday afternoon in Hamburg, but the Brazilian Rangel da Rosa held and held. It grew into an almost insurmountable obstacle; somehow the goalkeeper of the French club Saint-Raphaël still managed to get one of his limbs onto the ball.

It took a lot of effort in the second half to get a narrow 28:26 win after a four-goal deficit – and to get on the bus to Denmark on Monday with a reasonably good feeling. There were difficult phases in the first duel with the Brazilians on Thursday in Flensburg (32:25), mainly in defense. Now the concentration problems in front of the opponent’s goal seemed even more drastic. It was “a wake-up call,” said national coach Alfred Gislason before the World Cup preliminary round opener on Wednesday against Poland (8.30 p.m./ARD). The Icelander warned: “It won’t be as easy as some people think.”

With such an offensive performance, the German handball players, after all runners-up at the Olympics in Paris in the summer, will actually not get far in the World Cup. “Normally, if you miss 20 balls or more, you almost never win,” Gislason said. Captain Johannes Golla also complained about “an incredible number of missed throws” and “many ball losses”. But his basic trust in the team is intact: “We will do better in the tournament.”