As of: 01/23/2022 7:37 p.m
The German national handball team lost to Sweden at the European Championships in Bratislava and therefore mathematically no longer had a chance of reaching the semi-finals.
The team of national coach Alfred Gislason lost on Sunday evening (January 23, 2022) in the penultimate main round game with 21:25 (10:12) and in the last group game against Russia only plays for the final place in the main round group between fourth and sixth place. The game for fifth place is also no longer possible. The Swedes can reach the semi-finals with a win against Norway on Tuesday.
Lots of mistakes, few saves
The first round rarely offered offensive highlights. You could tell there was a lot at stake for both teams. Both made a lot of mistakes and played unclean again and again. Accordingly, the score was relatively low at 10:12 at the break.
The fact that the German goalkeepers only saved two and the Swedish only five balls in the first 30 minutes showed how dominant the defensive lines and how flawed the attacking game of both opponents was. Germany’s Johannes Bitter in particular was simply unlucky again and again. It was an intense and hard-fought game, which made it clear early on: Those who are more careful with the game equipment in attack will win here today.
By no means without a chance, but too hectic
The error festival continued seamlessly in half. Less than four minutes had been played before Fabian Wiede played the ball into the hands of the Swedes twice. But the vice world champion also found it difficult to create clear scoring chances and continued to lack concentration on his part. So the DHB selection stayed in the game via their cover.
Tobias Reichmann scored a penalty in the 37th minute to make it 13:13 – the first equalizer since the 1:1. Sweden’s coach Glenn Solberg now brought his superstar Jim Gottfridsson back into play, who had been rested for a while. The Germans had the chance to take the lead several times, but were too hectic on several occasions. For four minutes there was no goal at all, then the Swedes were ahead again – 15:16 after 44 minutes. “We threw away four balls in the first wave. I was really angry,” said Gislason after the game when asked about this phase.
Sweden well-rehearsed
Even in the final phase, it remained a real fight on the plate. It was the seventh game in ten or eleven days for the two opponents. In the end, it was the Swedes who acted a little more cautiously with the ball and were also more experienced than the Germans, who, as is well known, had to act in a very improvised line-up due to the major corona problems.
In addition, Andreas Palicka and Tobias Thulin won the goalkeeper duel. Too much came together for the self-sacrificing DHB team to turn the game around. With the score at 18:21 six minutes before the end, Gislason took his last time-out – but that was no longer of any use either. The best German shooter was Julian Köster with four goals, Sweden’s Hampus Wanne scored six times.
Drux: Strength was lacking, Gislason:
“We tried to give everything in. In the end, I think we just didn’t have the strength a bit,” explained an exhausted Paul Drux on the sports show microphone immediately after the final whistle, but had mostly seen the team “on an equal footing” with the runner-up world champion . Even Hendrik Wagner, who returned at short notice after his corona infection, had no strength after a few minutes, according to the national coach in the game.
“We played very well defensively. After three quarters of an hour we were tied. Up front we actually played well until the last quarter of an hour, but then we didn’t make good progress against the 6-0 Swedes,” analyzed the Icelanders continue.
Source: sportschau.de