“Handball eagles” fly into the main round of the European Championship thanks to Knorr

The handball party in Germany is slowly but surely picking up speed. The German team also showed a strong performance in the second game of the European Championship and celebrated a confident 34:25 (18:13) win against North Macedonia.

“Eagle fly!” – German handball players are increasingly living up to their own battle cry. The great euphoria from the opening game in Düsseldorf spilled over to Berlin on Sunday. “The hall was roaring, it was incredibly fun,” said Timo Kastening after the victory, which secured his place in the main round.

Above all, the two buddies Juri Knorr – ten goals, seven assists – and David Späth – 29 percent catch rate – caused enthusiasm. “I’m happy that I’ve made it to the tournament – and I’m looking forward to it continuing,” said Späth to ARD. In a remarkably calm tone, completely different to how he acted in the game. “I don’t know how loud he can scream, how much energy comes out of it,” said ARD expert Dominik Klein about Späth. “It was pure joy to watch him.”

The German handball players and their fans are enjoying this home European Championship, which will definitely continue after the preliminary round. Four more games, at least – and in principle the main round begins on Tuesday against France (8.30 p.m., live on ARD and on sportschau.de), because Germany would probably take the points from this game.

Whistles for Olaf Scholz in the stands

It was therefore important to pick up the tailwind from the opening game. The DHB team started again concentrated and effective and, above all, aggressive in defense. Gislason placed his trust in his young U21 world champion Renars Uscins, who moved into the first seven in the right back for Kai Häfner, who became a father for the second time on Friday. The interaction with Knorr in particular worked very well.

Although the backdrop in the Berlin Arena wasn’t quite as impressive as the world record game four days ago in Düsseldorf, the almost 13,600 spectators also made for a very atmospheric handball evening in the capital. There were only one whistle: when Chancellor Olaf Scholz was greeted in the stands by the hall announcer.

DHB substitute players ignite

The Germans played down their match plan and were more alert for long stretches than the Macedonians, who lost 18 balls (Germany: seven). Not everything went smoothly that evening, but when a player had a weak moment, his teammates stepped in. Like in the goal, where Andreas Wolff couldn’t repeat his outstanding performance from Wednesday (a save), but Späth delivered instead.

And when the young team became completely sloppy for a short time, the boss intervened. Alfred Gislason took a time out in the 39th minute after the Macedonians were on a 1:4 run – and made a clear statement to the team. “There’s a bit of embers coming out of the volcano”sports show expert Dominik Klein aptly commented in the audio stream.

“We had a phase in which we were relatively mindless and threw at the goal at will, something we never do otherwise,” said Gislason after the game.

ARD expert Klein was also not entirely satisfied, missed some of the fluid play from the Swiss success and expects further development steps. They now have to follow suit, now the opponents will be of a different level than Switzerland on Wednesday or North Macedonia on Sunday.

“It will show how mature we are, how grown up we are, how good we are,” said Juri Knorr after the game. The player of the game was happy, but also down-to-earth as usual. After the end of the game, none of the national players seemed to be taking off after two wins – even if the new team motto is “Eagle flies”, adopted by the ski jumpers.

But the “Handball Eagles” seem to be mastering this balancing act well: 60 minutes of high emotions in the hall to thrill the whole country. And then always come back down to earth.