Handball World Cup: Germany group winners after 29:22 against the Czech Republic

Group winners after the preliminary round – the first major goal of the German handball players at this World Cup has been achieved. The record of three wins in three games reads more confidently than the games actually went; The 29:22 (11:11) win against the Czech Republic on Sunday evening was also a lot of hard work. The prospects for the quarter-finals are now excellent: the German team takes four points into the main round – and can even afford a defeat on Tuesday against the tournament favorites and hosts Denmark.

“We had a bit of a hard time at the beginning, but once we get going, it’s hard to hold on,” said goalkeeper David Späth, who made an excellent save: “I’m glad that I was able to make my mark .” National coach Alfred Gislason was grumpy as usual: “It’s amazing how difficult we make life for ourselves. The free opportunities we give away are actually no longer normal.”

Gislason reacted to the defensive problems of the previous games and ordered a new defensive formation onto the field. The two Hanoverians Justus Fischer and Lukas Stutzke, who had only received a few World Cup minutes up to that point, formed the inner block in the first minutes of the game, Julian Köster moved to the half position, captain Johannes Golla initially only sat on the bench.

Goalkeeper Späth makes a strong save and hits the goal himself

Initially it wasn’t the quality of the defensive work; This was all the more valuable because the attack started the game unfocused and scatterbrained. The German players rejected a lot; This was emblematic of two missed seven meters in the first six minutes by Lukas Zerbe and Marko Grgic. In this discipline, the Germans are revealing a real problem at this World Cup, the bottom line quota is miserable. The Czechs initially led narrowly but consistently.

Was there a threat of another complicated game at this World Cup? Gislason tinkered extensively with his formation. He brought Golla on for Fischer, and goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, who had been outstanding so far but had no luck against the Czechs, also had to go down. The game was extremely difficult for the Germans. Juri Knorr, the middle man, at least managed to beat the Czech goalkeeper Tomas Mrkva from THW Kiel at the seven-meter penalty. Wolff representative David Späth, on the other hand, collected one or two nice parades. At halftime there were eleven goals conceded on the video dice, a good value. However, eleven goals in 30 minutes in attack were almost embarrassing.

The second half began with a seven-meter penalty from Knorr, Renars Uscins (eight goals in total) and Lukas Mertens gave the German team the lead with two goals for the first time (15:13). After that – what an unusual feeling – almost everything went right for the Germans: first the Czech Republic’s best goalscorer Dominik Solak had to leave the field with a foot injury, then Jakob Sterba saw red (foul on Köster). And when goalkeeper Späth threw a ball all over the field and sank it into the empty goal, the Czech team’s resistance was broken (19:14). Späth was named player of the game.

It is doubtful whether the Danes will have shaky hands before the clash on Tuesday in Herning.