Both pursuers lose
The DHB team is already in the European Championship semi-finals before kick-off
January 24, 2024, 7:24 p.m
The German handball players already have certainty before their last main round game: they will reach the semi-finals of the home European Championship. Because Austria lost to Iceland and Hungary lost to France, the DHB team was already second in the group before kick-off.
The German national handball team has reached the semi-finals of the European Handball Championship ahead of schedule. Due to the defeats of the competitors Austria and Hungary, the DHB team is already ahead of its final main round game in the evening (8.30 p.m./ARD and in the live ticker on ntv.de) can no longer be pushed out of second place in main round group I. The German team will play in the semi-finals next Friday (8.30 p.m.) against top favorites Denmark. Before that, France meets Sweden.
Record world champion France made Germany’s early semi-final entry perfect: The star ensemble around superstar Dika Mem, who had inflicted the DHB team’s only defeat in the tournament so far at 33:30 in the preliminary round, won a wild handball game with 35:32. Outsiders Hungary led 6-3 against the French, who had already won the group, then the favorites, where superstar Nikola Karabatic was spared, took over: in the middle of the first half, the vice-European champions were leading by five goals. At halftime France was ahead 20:18.
But at the beginning of the second half, the offensive engine sputtered badly and it took six minutes until France’s first goal. Hungary had meanwhile equalized. But then France, which was also without goalkeeper Samir Bellahcene, who had recently been outstanding against Austria, got going again – and achieved a victory that, from a German perspective, was a relief.
In the first game of the day, sensational team Austria, which had given the German team a 48-hour crisis with a 22:22, gave Iceland a big fight after being significantly behind at halftime (8:14), and even led again in the middle of the second half In the end, however, Iceland prevailed 26:24 despite 20 saves from once again outstanding goalkeeper Constantin Möstl, thus ending Austria’s dreams of a semi-final participation. Despite the defeat, Hungary will play against Slovenia on Friday for fifth place. Austria will finish the tournament in eighth place. A great success for the winter sports nation, which had experienced a handball “explosion” in the past few days, as right winger Robert Weber described it.
The German team had given up its sporting fate with the 22:22 draw against Austria on the second matchday of the main round and was dependent on support from the competition. Their own performance with 23 missed throws and eleven ball losses had sparked concerns about the semi-final goal they were aiming for before the tournament: “That was incredibly bad of us and will possibly deprive us of our goals,” complained captain Johannes Golla. The DHB team reported back with an impressive increase in performance and a 35:28 win against Hungary – and has now reached the minimum goal ahead of schedule.