Handball European Championship 2022: Germany loses against Norway

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Beaten, disappointed: The German handball players around Johannes Bitter (2nd from left)

Photo:

Marijan Murat / dpa

Scene of the match:

They stood on the plate and clapped towards their fans, who had hardly taken a breather during the 60 minutes in Bratislava. The German handball players didn't have that either. But for the first time at this European Handball Championship, you saw sad faces among the German players. As against Spain, the defeat against Norway was also clear. National coach Alfred Gíslason said on ZDF: "I'm proud of my boys." It sounded like the beginning of the end of a curious final.

Result:

But it's not that far yet. The DHB selection, which was weakened due to Corona, suffered the next setback in the duel for the semifinals at the European Championships - it also lost in the second main round game. In the end it was 23:28 (12:14) against Norway. The many corona cases, the few training sessions - you can see all the consequences against ever stronger opponents. Read the match report here.

Undesirable continuity:

Almost not a day went by without a new positive corona finding. Not this Friday either: Although no positive player was added to the eleven infected professionals in the hospital camp, Gislason's assistant coach Erik Wudtke was now clearly tested positive after an unclear result on Thursday. Julius Kühn, the first corona case in the team, was not yet able to test himself for the Norway game and was not available.

The start:

Gislason once again had the 16 players available who had reached their limits in the clear defeat against European champions Spain. But at least there was scaffolding after the many changes of the previous days. And the German players pulled themselves together, the defense was very agile, Johannes Golla positioned himself cleverly in the circle and scored two quick goals.

The problem:

But you also noticed how hard the DHB selection had to fight for every single goal, how much the well-established processes in the switching game on the offensive were missing. There was hardly any pressure from the backcourt and the German team didn't even have a goal of their own for almost eight minutes. "The attack is our problem," said the national coach during a break. It was hard work. 12:14 was the break time.

Just a shadow:

Sander Sagosen is the face of the Norwegian upswing in handball, he was the outstanding player in past tournaments, as a passer, scorer and driver. Now you could see how the 26-year-old made several weak shots in the direction of Johannes Bitter and made technical mistakes that are unknown to him. The attacker only takes just under 60 percent of his chances in this European Championship - an extremely poor value. Coach Christian Berge kept letting him stew on the bench against Germany.

The second half:

And the Norwegians were able to cope with the slump in form of their superstar Sagosen, especially since coach Berge has not yet had a single corona case to complain about in his team (Norway is an exception at this European Championship, which has already reported over 110 corona cases in the 24 participant squads had to). The well-rehearsed Norway kept the pace high. When Germany scored, the answer came quickly - Norway's success was no longer in danger.

Is anyone else coming back?:

Against Sweden, several of the infected players could test themselves at the DHB because their minimum isolation of five days would expire. The prerequisites for this are two negative PCR tests on two consecutive days and a release based on a sports medicine and cardiological examination. But there are still no signs of a comeback, and Julius Kühn's return against Norway had to be postponed.

Outlook:

In any case, it won't be any easier for the German team. The next opponent Sweden (Sunday, 6 p.m.) had previously shown an outstanding performance in the emphatic victory against Poland, the last opponent Russia (Tuesday, 6 p.m.) lost in a dramatic game against Spain with just one goal. To get into the semi-finals, the German handball players would have to finish at least second in their group.

Quote of the game:

"I'm not a king of arithmetic," said Philipp Weber after the remaining games and semi-final chances.

He doesn't want to deal with it any further, he's looking forward to Saturday - that's when the handball players want to do a practice session on the plate for the first time in a few days.

No online session, real training.

It's the longing for normalcy.