The German handball players have landed in their World Cup venue Katowice. The first test for the DHB selection is on Friday. An uncomfortable opponent awaits.
Full of energy, Alfred Gislason climbed out of the bus in front of the World Cup team hotel in Kattowitz after the arrival of the German handball players – and the anticipation of the World Cup was also evident in the players.
“Everyone is dying for it to finally start,” said the national coach before the eagerly awaited opening game of the DHB selection against Asian champions Qatar this Friday (6 p.m. / ZDF and Sportdeutschland.tv). Backcourt player Paul Drux from Bundesliga leaders Füchse Berlin summed up the mood in the team, which landed around 45 minutes late in the Polish preliminary round: “The tingling is increasing. We’re all full of anticipation.”
With passion and team spirit, the DHB selection wants to regain the lost connection to the top of the world after the last seven tournaments without a medal and inspire an audience of millions in front of their home television sets. “We want to advance handball,” announced DHB sports director Axel Kromer after arrival.
Kromer confident
After ten days of preparation, the players are hot. “Everyone is looking forward to a great tournament,” reported Kromer. Goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, one of five European champions from 2016 in the 16-man squad for the World Cup, formulated the claim: “We want to find international recognition again and be one of the teams you don’t want to play against.”
The next two and a half weeks will show whether it will be enough to do more than reach the quarter-finals, which the players and association have repeatedly mentioned as a World Cup goal. “We want to ignite a fire, play handball with passion and get as far as possible,” said the 33-year-old veteran Patrick Groetzki. Captain Johannes Golla knows what is important in the World Cup days: “We need a lot of emotions and a certain amount of euphoria to be able to play at the front,” emphasized the 25-year-old.
These qualities should come into play in Group E’s first preliminary round match against Qatar. “I’ve seen a few competitive games against Qatar. We couldn’t win the 2015 and 2017 World Cup. You should remember that,” Kromer warned of his rivals. “These are definitely not walk-in customers.”
Qatar warning
Gislason also expects a tricky task. “Qatar have a technically talented and experienced team that is also physically very strong. They have a lot of throwing power from the back,” said Gislason and demanded: “The fact is: we have to play a really good game for 60 minutes to get them to hit.”
That was the problem in the two friendlies against Iceland. Consistency was the magic word that was heard more often afterwards. Gislason is confident that the team will find themselves even better in the course of the tournament, in which initially Serbia and Algeria are the other group opponents. “We’re not that well attuned in terms of width. But that will settle down because we will have to rotate,” said the national coach.
Against the Asian champions trained by the Spaniard Valero Rivera, in which the Cuban Rafael Capote, despite his 35 years, still puts pressure and goals from the backcourt, he believes that a good defense will be particularly important. “We need an aggressive and agile defence. If we can do that, we can put pressure on the opponent’s attack and we will almost certainly get a good goalkeeping performance,” said Gislason.
declaration of war on the competition
His protégés feel ready for the finals. “We have a hungry and strong squad,” said Drux, making a small declaration of war on the competition: “We approach the tournament with humility, but we don’t have to hide from anyone.”
Kromer shares this assessment. “We have the plan that this tournament will be better than it was last time,” said the sports director. In the recent past, the DHB selection was rarely or never seen as a favorite or medal candidate by the other nations. Kromer therefore formulated the World Cup goal: “We hope that after the World Cup we will be viewed with more respect and respect by the competition.”
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
