National goalkeeper Andi Wolff inspires Germany’s handball players and creates European Championship euphoria throughout the country. The leader delivers and is showered with praise. Federal President Steinmeier dreams.
National goalkeeper Andreas Wolff more than deserved the relaxed train ride in comfortable first class from Düsseldorf to Berlin after the German handball players’ euphoric start to the European Championship.
The day after the convincing victory over Switzerland, the match winner and his teammates were still reminiscing about the dream start in front of the world record crowd. At the same time, national coach Alfred Gislason studied the videos of the 27:14 victory on the train and concentrated primarily on the “few negative scenes”.
Germany is in handball fever. 7.6 million people were there on screen for the first DHB appearance, giving ZDF the top audience rating of the day of 28.8 percent. The convincing success triggered the hoped-for wave of euphoria, which is now set to spill over to Berlin. “I think the Germans are up for the tournament and will push us forward,” said the extremely strong backcourt player Julian Köster.
Germany can make it into the main round with a win against North Macedonia on Sunday. Two days later, the duel takes place with record world champions France, who also started the tournament with a confident victory.
53,586 fans like in Düsseldorf won’t be there in the capital – but goalkeeper Wolff will be there. He looks forward to the next task with confidence. “If the boys defend with the same courage, we can definitely put together a very good defensive package again,” predicted Wolff.
13 saves ensure victory
The 32-year-old from top Polish club Industrie Kielce seems to be in great shape. His start at the European Championships was uncertain for a long time after a slipped disc in the summer. “Normally you go into a tournament like this and have played 20, 25 games in the first half of the season. I just start with six, seven, eight. You’re not quite at the same level physically as you normally are,” said Wolff before the start of the tournament said.
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Are you kidding me? Are you serious when you say that. Supported by the largest indoor handball backdrop in history, Wolff shone from the start. The veteran parried 13 of 22 Swiss throws. Especially in the opening minutes, the goalkeeper’s impressive reflexes gave his nervous-looking front men stability. “I think the game far exceeded expectations. I couldn’t have sketched the game in these dazzling colors beforehand,” said Wolff.
Dahmke about Wolff: I don’t understand him
During the game, the spectators celebrated their handball hero with “Andi Wolff” chants. When the DHB keeper left the parquet ten minutes before the end, the fans rose from their seats. With all his experience, Wolff is the leader of the young wild ones. In 2016 he made the DHB team European champions. This time too, the goalkeeper wants to pave the way for his young team to win a medal. “The goal is clearly to become European champions. Anyone who competes and doesn’t want to become European champions has missed their job,” Wolff said.
The performance at the start of the European Championship underlined Wolff’s high goals. “I knew he was good, but today was from another planet,” enthused playmaker Juri Knorr and used the superlatives “unbelievable, unbelievable, unique” to describe the DHB goalkeeper’s performance.
Right winger Timo Kastening said: “If you have a goalkeeper like that behind you, you can’t lose a game like that.” And Rune Dahmke also seemed a bit incredulous when he was asked to describe the performance of the German support: “I don’t understand what he’s doing anyway,” said the Kiel Bundesliga professional and renamed Wolff “Andi, the wall”.
Steinmeier believes handball players can do “everything”.
Wolff is in European champion form and his performance overshadowed even the phenomenal inner block with Julian Köster and Johannes Golla. “Let’s be honest, it’s easy to save balls when the defense is playing so well,” said the goalkeeper modestly. Wolff expects a “much more difficult” game against North Macedonia. “This is a savvy team. They won’t play at all what we would like to see,” predicted Wolff.
The national coach is still confident that his protégés will also overcome the second challenge at the home tournament. “I think this game gives a lot of self-confidence. We played at a very high level. There was no break. It was a step forward in terms of the style of play and the concentration over the entire 60 minutes,” summed up Gislason and added with a smile: “I am very pleased.”
Almost in the same breath, the 64-year-old Icelander warned against too much euphoria after the confident opening success. “If we don’t win the next game, we can still be kicked out,” warned Gislason.
Edelfan Frank-Walter Steinmeier doesn’t think so. On the contrary: after this performance, he believes the handball players can do “everything”. “I would have no objection at all to a winter fairy tale that begins today,” said the Federal President, who had to deal with sound problems during his greetings before kick-off and caused a few laughs. The DHB professionals wouldn’t defend themselves against a third winter fairytale after World Cup gold in 2007 and the European Championship title in 2016. “You don’t contradict a Federal President,” said Dahmke and laughed.