Handball European Championship: Successful begin – protection paves the way in which for Germany to win | EUROtoday

Great begin to the medal mission: Thanks to a defensive bulwark with goalkeeping titan Andreas Wolff as robust help, Germany’s handball gamers received the European Championship opening sport in opposition to Austria 30:27 (12:8) and set course for the primary spherical. In entrance of 5,820 spectators in Herning, Denmark, captain Johannes Golla was the perfect thrower for nationwide coach Alfred Gislason’s group with seven targets.

On Saturday, the DHB choice will proceed on the identical place in opposition to Serbia, earlier than the preliminary spherical ends on Monday with a duel in opposition to Spain. The two-time European champions beat the Serbs 29:27 at the beginning. To attain the primary spherical, a minimum of second place in Group A is required.

“I think we put up a great defense the entire game. The only thing we struggled with were the time penalties in the second half,” mentioned backcourt participant Marko Grgić on ARD. “We create good chances up front, but we miss a few too many. The showpiece was the defense.” National coach Gislason additionally praised the protection. “First of all, I’m happy with the victory that we won. We saw an outstanding defense, the whole game actually. I really enjoy this defense. But we have to improve in attack,” he mentioned.

Before the opening sport in opposition to Austria, Wolff had additional fueled the temper with crucial statements about his neighbors’ type of play. This is “unattractive” and characterised by “ugliness”. “No one actually wants to see that,” the veteran complained.

Team Austria went into the sport with corresponding motivation, for which Gislason eliminated the injured backcourt participant Nils Lichtlein and Rune Dahmke from the squad. The left winger from THW Kiel is, together with Wolff and pivot Jannik Kohlbacher, considered one of solely three gamers who have been a part of the European Championship triumph ten years in the past.

There needs to be a minimum of one medal once more in 2026. “We have the potential to get to the final,” mentioned Wolff earlier than the beginning of the European Championship, the place the world-class goalkeeper was instantly in control. With a couple of good saves within the early levels, the 34-year-old mixed with the aggressive protection ensured that Germany had solely conceded one aim in a 4-1 win after ten minutes.

Defense traces dominate within the first half

But Austria additionally had a powerful keeper between the posts in Constantin Möstl from TBV Lemgo Lippe, third within the Bundesliga, in order that the DHB group couldn’t draw back any additional. At 6:6 (18th), the small cushion was gone.

The defensive traces continued to dominate afterwards. Both groups needed to battle exhausting for each aim. After twenty minutes, the nationwide coach reacted and introduced recent forces for the attacking sport with Juri Knorr, Miro Schluroff and Franz Semper. That paid off.

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“Boys, it’s a phenomenal defense. We’re wearing them down,” Gislason cheered on his costs throughout a timeout a couple of minutes earlier than the break when the rating was 11:7. We went into the dressing room with a four-goal lead. “I’m very happy with the first half,” praised group supervisor Benjamin Chatton on ARD and added: “The goal is to keep the Austrians under 20 goals.”

Nothing got here of this, however German success was by no means significantly threatened. At 17:12 (thirty ninth), Germany was inside 5 targets for the primary time and did not let a short second of shock round Wolff deter them from their path to victory. The 2016 European champion needed to go away the parquet with 20 minutes to go after a success to the pinnacle.

Seven minutes later, Wolff got here again with a save. In the top, the goalkeeper from the German report champion THW Kiel had fended off twelve throws and thus performed a serious function within the success of the Olympic silver medalist.