As of: 01/17/2023 7:58 p.m
In the end it was much more than just a class difference: The German handball players celebrated a 37:21 (16:9) victory against a clearly inferior team from Algeria at the end of the preliminary round of the World Cup. Germany coach Alfred Gislason took the opportunity to rest some of his regular players.
The DHB team was the winner of preliminary round group E before the kick-off. Germany’s first main round opponent is now called Argentina on Thursday (01/19/2023). The South Americans defeated North Macedonia in the parallel game with 35:26. The best thrower of the German team against Algeria was pivot Jannik Kohlbacher with ten goals.
“It can go far for us”
“The team was very focused. I’m extremely happy with the performance of the second row,” said Alfred Gislason. Luca Witzke, one of the players from the second row, was even more optimistic. “It can go a long way for us at this tournament. We’re going into the main round with a lot of self-confidence and a good squad. Of course the goal is the quarter-finals,” said the Leipziger, who was Germany’s second-best scorer with five goals.
As expected, Gislason sent players onto the Katowice floor who had previously had little use. Rune Dahmke from Kiel was allowed to play for Lukas Mertens on the left wing. Leipzig’s Luca Witzke started as a middleman for Juri Knorr, who only competed in seven-metre throws. And Simon Ernst, also from SC DHfK Leipzig, was initially on the floor in defense. Later in the first half, Gislason also used Paul Drux from Berlin and Djibril M’Bengue from Bergisches HC.
Special moment for M’Bengue
A special moment especially for the backcourt right M’Bengue, who had to watch the last four international matches and was finally able to show what he’s capable of. He did: Eight minutes after coming on as a substitute, the 30-year-old scored his first World Cup goal. “He did a very good job and is a good defender. It’s unfortunate for him that I wanted to play my starting seven first,” said Alfred Gislason. M’Bengue had four goals in six tries against Algeria.
In any case, the “B-Team” did a good job. Although the Algerians took a 3-1 lead, the favorites then took the initiative. Above all, the agile Luca Witzke took his chance and showed with penetrating power in attack and worth seeing passes that he can definitely be an alternative to Juri Knorr. After their good start, the Algerians remained ten minutes without a goal, Germany increased the lead 9:5 and 14:7 to the 16:9 break.
Häfner and Mertens completely spared
In the second half, too, the team was able to continue trying and testing under competitive conditions. Men from the top seven like Kai Häfner and Lukas Mertens didn’t even take off their tracksuits and took it easy on the bench. There was a half-time change in goal: Joel Birlehm came on for Andreas Wolff as agreed and gained more World Cup practice against an Algerian team, however, which had few options to offer in attack and only managed to finish once through the massive Abdi Ayyoub.
The Algerians were also weakened by an unfortunate referee decision. Bendjilali Sofiane had to leave the field with a red card in the 39th minute after Witzke rushed into him. “I slipped a bit in the scene, a two-minute penalty would have done the trick,” said Witzke.
Kohlbacher in goal mood
At this point, the North Africans had already given up a bit against the Germans, who continued to work at high speed. At 25:13 the lead had grown to twelve goals. Shortly before, Paul Drux had scored his first World Cup goal. Simon Ernst is now the only German field player without a tournament goal.
In the final quarter of an hour, the Germans continued to increase the result. The German team didn’t quite come close to their record victory of the last World Cup – 43:14 against Uruguay.
Kohlbacher: “Alfred can switch with peace of mind”
Circle player Jannik Kohlbacher in particular was in a goal mood and was also named “Player of the Game” for his 100 percent quota. “The game showed that Alfred can switch with peace of mind. I think everyone is in the tournament now,” said the man from the Rhein-Neckar Löwen.
The German team will meet more resistance on Thursday. Then the first major match against Argentina is coming up. However, this is also a solvable task. Other main round opponents are the Netherlands and Norway.
Source: sportschau.de