U21 World Cup – Pascal Hens exclusively before the semi-finals: That’s why Justus Fischer is so important for the DHB team

Germany’s title dream is alive! With a comfortable 31:26 victory over Denmark, the U21 handball players of national coach Martin Heuberger qualified for the semi-finals in Berlin and showed their best tournament performance so far.

Ex-professional Pascal Hens has also seen a clear improvement in performance: “Fortunately, they pulled through the thing against Denmark and didn’t let us tremble like in the games before. It’s great fun to watch them,” says the 43-year-old in the exclusive interview with Eurosport.de.

In the personal power ranking before the round of four, the 2007 world champion sees the DHB youngsters in first place and thus as favorites for the world title.

Hens names the “overall package” of the team as a great strength, but emphasizes one player in pivot Justus Fischer. Also because of his emotionality.

Mr. Hens, the German U21s are in the World Cup semi-finals after a convincing performance against Denmark. Eurosport expert Bob Hanning had announced the title as an expectation even before the start of the World Cup. After this game, how euphoric are you about the chances of the Germans?

Pascal Hens: I was already very euphoric beforehand and was looking forward to the tournament. Of course there are great expectations, you play at home, the halls are full. In 2007, with the national team, we experienced first-hand what makes a home crowd. In terms of performance, the German guys are at the top anyway and so far they have been supporting that. Luckily they pulled it off against Denmark and didn’t make us tremble like in previous games. It’s great fun to watch them. Now they just mustn’t get reckless, but I’m very optimistic that they know that.

Keyword euphoria: In football, the German national team is currently under massive criticism, and the U21 juniors were also disappointedly eliminated in the preliminary round of the European Championship. Is this a chance for handball to step into the breach a bit and win over German sports fans?

Hens: We’ve seen that before. Unfortunately, handball is still miles behind football at the moment. It’s more of an event sport. Big tournaments have more people watching and we try to get them excited. The U21 boys are doing very, very well at the moment. We have to use every tournament, especially in front of a home crowd, to present our sport. It’s going great at the moment, we have a great atmosphere in the arenas. I saw pictures from the Presidents Cup in Hanover, there were 2500 school children. There isn’t even a President’s Cup game like that for the senior national team, it’s always dead (laughs). It’s impressive and a lot of fun to watch. Of course, as a sports fan, I would have been happy if the footballers had performed better (laughs).

One player who has stood out in previous games is David Späth. He also held up superbly against Denmark and was a guarantee of victory. Will he be THE goalkeeper for the senior national team in the future and can he replace Andreas Wolff as the leader of the pack in the long term?

Hens: To be honest, we never had any problems in the goalkeeping position in the senior team. But of course you can see from David Späth that there are a few good ones to come. The best example was his performance in the cup final with the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. He holds the important balls – and at his young age. I really enjoy watching him because he is so euphoric, enthusiastic and passionate. He shows that at every parade. I am very excited about its development. He’s already been able to start a lot with the Rhein-Neckar Löwen this year and was to the others (goalkeepers, Note d. editor) equal. David is definitely a goalkeeper who will be a lot of fun for us with his size and presence – also in the senior national team.

Does Germany U21’s success at the World Cup depend on his performance and is there a danger lurking if he doesn’t have a strong day in the semi-finals?

Hens: The station wagon in goal with (Lasse, Note d. editor) Ludwig and Späth is fine. We don’t have to rely on just one. We don’t have any problems in the goalkeeping position. But it would be wrong to only look at Späth. There are many other players: the attacking game, the defense – it’s the overall package that currently stands out and is a lot of fun. The defense seems very stable, we were very well prepared against Denmark in particular. But also the conception, clear approaches and moves in attack. This is implemented very well. You can clearly see who has more Bundesliga experience and who has played a lot. Whether (Nils, Note d. editor) Lichtlein, who was the Duracell bunny in the first half against Denmark. He was everywhere and wanted to take responsibility. Or a Justus Fischer at the circle, a Renars Uscins. Of course, they benefit from their experience.

Which of the names mentioned has surprised you the most in the tournament so far?

Hens: Justus Fischer did an excellent job in Hanover. Even now he is the rock in the surf. He is physically very present and is stable at the back of the inner block. He’s the type of player who always tries to show his emotions and take the audience a little bit with him. I very much welcome that. That’s why I would name him there. Nils Lichtlein may still be a bit lacking in body for the Bundesliga, but he’s blossoming with the U21s and going his own way.

The players and the national coach emphasized that against Denmark they learned from the weaknesses in the main round against France and Croatia – asked at a very high level: Which screws still need to be turned?

Hens: There are not many adjusting screws. The boys are well positioned in every game, they know exactly what to expect and how they want to play in attack. You can call on your strengths again and again. But against Denmark I noticed that the pace was slowed down a bit. With a five-goal lead, they weren’t as courageous in the second wave, but concentrated on not making any mistakes so as not to lose their lead, as they did against Croatia and France. But the fast game from behind, exploiting the lack of sorting in the opposing defence, we have to do that for 60 minutes. In the end we adjusted that a bit.

And with a little smile: If you watch the game against Denmark, then maybe we should practice a bit more to throw from our own half at an empty goal (laughs). That didn’t quite work out, otherwise we would have been able to lead a little higher earlier.

From first to fourth place: How would you rank the four semi-finalists based on their performances so far?

Hens: I expect Germany to win against Serbia and I think we’ll play Hungary in the final. So far they have performed well. So I put Germany on one, Hungary on two, Iceland on three because of their mentality and Serbia on four.

What are the strengths of the Serbs and how will the semifinals compare to the quarterfinals against Denmark?

Hens: I can’t say much about Serbia because I haven’t seen much of them yet. But I think they have a very strong mentality and are also well trained, similar to Croatia. Above all, Martin Heuberger will look after his own team and prepare them well. The guys in defense know they can rely on their strengths. At the back we have our big plus. A good goalkeeping performance, a good defense, to then score easy goals with speed forward. We’ve been doing that throughout the tournament, we have the right types of players for it – and that’s half the battle. That’s why I’m relatively sure that the boys will win this game well prepared.

Mr Hens, thank you for the interview.