Second tournament stage: Moving to Oslo: Hairy handball player on fight for World Cup medal

Full of anticipation for a highest likely K.-O. duel against Portugal, Germany’s handball player traveled to Norway in a good mood despite the continuing worries about Juri Knorr. From Karup’s military airport, it went without the playmaker who was in home in the charter plane to Oslo, where the DHB selection wants to fulfill the dream of the first World Cup medal for 18 years.

“I’m really looking forward to Oslo. Let’s see what we can achieve there,” said national coach Alfred Gislason after the relaxed 31:19 against Tunisia at the end of the main round. Backroom Youngster Marko Grgic, who scored eleven goals in the duel with the North Africans, announced: “With five wins from six games, you can start the knockout round. We are very, very hot in the quarter-finals.”

There the opponent is probably called Portugal. “This is a very interesting team that has played a very good tournament so far. They are really good in defense and attack,” said Gislason. If it goes to goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, who was completely spared against Tunisia as well as captain Johannes Golla, Julian Köster and Renars Uscins, the World Cup trip should not end on Wednesday. “I am glad that we have come so far, but I hope that this is not the end of the flagpole,” said Wolff.

The continued tense personnel position in the team, which is decimated by the failures of the sick Knorr, Rune Dahmke and Lukas Stutzke. “We will only know on Monday or later whether you can play. I hope that we don’t have to nominate anyone,” said Gislason before departure from Denmark.

The team in particular would hurt the team, the 24-year-old presented himself in a strong form in the first final round. “Everyone knows how much Juri means for our attack game,” said Grgic. The sick playmaker is currently in northern Germany, where he has undergone detailed medical examinations. “The spatial constellation plays us in the cards,” said national team manager Benjamin Chatton. A return from Knorr to the team is possible.

The World Cup break is good for DHB team

This is also due to the unusually long break of four days between the end of the main round and the quarter -finals. As a result, the convalescenter has more time for the hoped -for recovery and the national coach for intensive preparation. “So far we have only had one day between the games. You can’t train properly, you can only train and show videos,” said the 65 -year -old Icelander.

Regardless of the staffing, Captain Golla presented the direction of the March for the hot phase of the World Cup: “We must not cramp, we have to enjoy playing a World Cup.” This was too rarely the case in the course of the tournament. “It’s hard work. The lightness comes when you are in the flow. We are not,” said sports director Ingo Meckes.

The Olympic silver coup last summer was different. “At that time we did not have this pressure and these expectations. That helped us a lot that we were able to play freely. Now we are second in the Olympics. People expect more from us and ourselves. This could lead to us to cramp and Want too much, “said Grgic.

Kanter victory makes you feel good

That was not the case in the Tunisia game. In addition to top thrower Grgic, goalkeeper David Späth was shining with 21 parades, which corresponded to a quota of 53 percent balls. “It was a lot of fun,” said the 22-year-old and asked for the quarter-finals: “We have to transport that into the knockout game and show joy and fight in the field.”

Grgic sees the move from Denmark to Norway as a small turning point in the tournament. “The change of scenery is good to start a mini-new start,” he said. “For everyone, this is another wake-up shaker to say: okay, now we are in the K.O. games and now everything is announced.”