Before the World Cup quarter-finals: Everything or nothing: Handball players play around the World Cup semi-final

Home or semi-finals: For Germany’s handball player, the World Cup quarter-finals against Portugal are concerned with everything or nothing. The team of national coach Alfred Gislason is facing a major challenge in the duel with the southern Europeans this evening (8.30 p.m./ARD and Sportdeutschland.tv) in Oslo, the rival surfed on a wave of success at the final round.

A comparison of the two quarter -final opponents:

The DHB selection has not yet found its top form in the previous tournament course. In the preliminary round there were little convincing victories against Poland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Italy and Tunisia were also not a indicator in the main round. In the duel with defending champion Denmark, the German team had no chance.

The Portuguese, which are still unbeaten at the final round, is completely different. In the preliminary round, co-hosts Norway, Brazil and the USA were defeated. In the main round there was the only loss of points in the 37:37 against the European Championship third. This was followed by convincing victories against the Olympic third Spain and Chile.

Germany can rely on its goalkeeper Andreas Wolff and David Späth at the World Cup. So far, both have presented themselves in a strong constitution. In contrast, important pillars such as Johannes Golla, Julian Köster or Renars Uscins fluctuated in their performance. There is a question mark behind the fitness of Juri Knorr, which failed for a week.

At Portugal, the Costa brothers stand out Francisco (19) and Martim (22). The two back room players were responsible for almost a third of all goals of the southern Europeans at this tournament. Francisco scored 36 times, Martim 33 times. For national coach Gislason, they are “two of the greatest talents in world handball”.

At 65, Gislason is the oldest national coach of all 32 World Cup participants. The Icelander won the German championship and the Champions League as a club coach with SC Magdeburg and the THW Kiel. After a difficult start in the office of national coach, which he took over in February 2020, he led the DHB selection to Olympic silver last year.

Portugal’s national team has taken an enormous upswing under Paulo Pereira. The 59 -year -old has been in office since 2016 and led the team to sixth place at the European Championship 2020 – the best result at a big tournament to this day – and for the first time to the Olympic Games in 2021. He is considered a clever tactic and motivator.

So far there have been eleven duels between the two teams – ten of them won Germany. The only defeat dates from November 2021 when there was a 30:32 in Düsseldorf. At a World Cup, Germany and Portugal only meet for the second time. In 2003 the DHB selection clearly won 37:29.

The latest international matches were much more scarce. A year ago, the DHB team prevailed in the last tests with 34:33 and 35:31. This is not the only reason why the national coach expects a difficult task. “It will be an interesting game, the chances are 50:50,” said Gislason.