Handball - Home European Championship in sight: DHB team wins test against Portugal
Germany's handball team got in the mood for the European Championship at home with a laborious test match victory.
The team of national coach Alfred Gislason defeated outsiders Portugal 34:33 (18:14) in Flensburg and revealed some weaknesses six days before the opening game. In front of 4546 spectators, Juri Knorr was the best scorer for the German Handball Federation with six goals.
The DHB team will face the Southern Europeans again in the final rehearsal for the European Championship on Saturday (18:00/ARD). The handball team will then move to North Rhine-Westphalia, where the opening match against Switzerland will take place on January 10. Other preliminary round opponents at the home tournament from January 10 to 28 are outsiders North Macedonia and co-favorites France.
Gislason relies on experience in the starting line-up
Following the injury to Marian Michalczik, Gislason started the immediate European Championship preparations with an 18-man squad. In the starting line-up against Portugal, the Icelander relied on experience and sent veterans onto the pitch in Andreas Wolff, Johannes Golla and Juri Knorr. The U21 world champions around Nils Lichtlein were initially left out in the cold. The decision was the right one.
The opening phase belonged to the German defense. The retreat against the fast tempo play of the Portuguese worked and the middle block around Köster stood firm, so that the visitors hardly found any gaps to score. It took six minutes for the Portuguese to score their first goal and reduce the deficit to 1:3.
Knorr takes on responsibility
Playmaker and leading figure Knorr took responsibility in attack. The 23-year-old from Rhein-Neckar Löwen made a significant contribution to the 13:7 lead at one stage with his lightning-fast shots and impressive passes to winger Timo Kastening. Wolff put in a decent performance in goal following his herniated disc and brief comeback in January.
Germany had the game under control and Gislason gave his regular players a break. When debutant Martin Hanne came into the game for left winger Lukas Mertens and scored his first international goal with his first shot, the Flensburg Campushalle celebrated. The DHB team looked well-rehearsed, even if the lead at the break could have been higher.
DHB team unfocused after the break
After the break, the German squad was unfocused. Goals at the posts and misplaced passes brought the Portuguese, who reduced the deficit to 20:22, back into the game. Gislason, who criticized the lack of movement in the German game, called an early time-out.
Things then got really dicey for the DHB team, who suddenly found themselves double short-handed with a one-goal lead. However, Germany survived this tricky phase unscathed thanks to another goal from rookie Hanne and then increased their lead to four goals again (28:24).
In the end, it became tight again and the gaps in the defense widened. The DHB team saved the narrow victory over time.
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Source: www.stern.de
