At some point the shoulders of the German handball players sagged. With every tempo counterattack that the French accommodated in the German goal; with every shot that bounced off the arms of French goalkeeper Remy Desbonnet, the belief in the big surprise diminished. Then Juri Knorr played a bad pass, the French easily intercepted the ball and threw it into the empty German goal. The game was lost.
It was a big fight that lasted at least 45 minutes, which the German handball players had fought in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Sweden and Poland with the clearly favored French – but only for 45 minutes. In the end, France relentlessly pulled away, the Germans lost 28:35 (16:16) and were eliminated from this World Cup.
“The result is too high,” said captain Johannes Golla on ZDF: “We made a step at this World Cup, but you saw today that we’re still a long way from the top of the world.” Goalkeeper Andreas Wolff was also disappointed: “We gave up a bit towards the end.” The World Cup isn’t quite over for the team yet, it’s still a matter of placing, fifth place would still be possible in the final balance sheet.
The Germans start strong – and even lead by four goals
There have already been a few legendary clashes between German and French handball players, the most memorable from a German point of view was the semi-finals of the 2007 World Cup, in a Cologne arena that was completely out of control. At that time, two world-class teams met, twice it went to overtime; It was dramatic seconds when Markus Baur gave the Germans the lead with a seven-metre throw, France blew a presumably regular goal, German goalkeeper Henning Fritz parried Daniel Narcisse’s last shot from the back – and Fritz then went mad with the ball in his hand the arena zoomed.
But that was a long time ago, this time the starting position was different. The French still have a world-class team, the Germans are on the way to becoming one again. If the Germans were to have managed to win this time, then everything, absolutely everything, should have been right.
Nothing worked at first, not even the schedule. The game started 20 minutes late due to double extra time in the previous first quarter-final in Gdansk, which Spain beat Norway by almost 35:34. When the referees finally blew the whistle, Kai Häfner scored the first German goal with courageous refueling. Juri Knorr’s first seven-meter shot also landed in the goal; goalkeeper Andreas Wolff also grabbed a few balls from the French. When Knorr also scored from open play, the German team led 7:4 after eight minutes. did something go here?
France’s key man: goalkeeper Remy Desbonnet.
(Photo: Aleksandra Szmigiel/Reuters)
Of course, such an early deficit did not shock the French. Many players in the squad have already been Olympic champions, world champions and European champions; the situations in handball that Nikola Karabatic or Kentin Mahé have not yet experienced have yet to be invented. They equalized the four-goal lead of the Germans (11:7) within less than two minutes (11:11). The French counterattack worked better now, DHB trainer Gislason consequently took his first break and urged more calm and concentration. The beautiful leadership was gone at first.
In the second half, the Germans fail far too often due to goalkeeper Remy Desbonnet
It would have been a moment when the game could have tilted. In the past few years, the German team had made inexplicable dropouts in major tournaments until the deficit was too big to come back again. But this time they fought back: goalkeeper Wolff parried a counterattack by Dika Mem with his right leg raised extremely high; up front, Christoph Steinert from Erlangen scored his third goal in the first half. And when France’s Melvyn Richardson, son of the great Jackson Richardson, stepped to the seven-yard line for the third time, Gislason sent his second goalkeeper, Joel Birlehm, between the posts. He got a hand on the ball, the game device jumped on the crossbar – held. Both teams were level at the break, 16:16. A fast, fast-paced and indeed balanced game.
In the second half, things went quickly at first. First a Kempa trick by Lukas Mertens and Häfner, then a pass from Knorr from within his own half to captain Johannes Golla – the Germans were in the lead again (19:17). But again Gislason’s team couldn’t defend the lead for long. The internationally rather unknown Remy Desbonnet in the French goal now became the decisive factor, he parried ball after ball; the German backcourt players sometimes made it easy for him with badly unplaced throws. Now the French were leading, 22:20, and they extended the lead. Gislason took a risk, bringing Luca Witzke and Djibril M’Bengue. But France showed no more mercy.
In the semi-finals of this World Cup, the French will now meet Sweden, while the Danes will play against Spain. The Germans also want to be in this group of the last four teams – in a year, at the home European Championship in Germany, would be a good moment.