The player of the game took a lot of time. When Steffen Fäth appeared after the 24:19 (14:10) of the German handball against Iceland after the first game of the World Cup main round in the mixed zone, many of his teammates had long since made their statement to the game.

Often they had praised Fäth, and the national coach Christian Prokop said: "At Steffen, it was fantastic today, there was a goal more beautiful than the other." And Fäth? He seemed uncomfortable with the hustle and bustle of his personality, but he did not like his performance. He did not have to, she spoke for herself.

Fäth had scored six goals in eight matches, it was his best game in the tournament. Often he had been played in the back room, took two or three short steps and then thrown, powerful and precise. Once, after a throw of 113 kilometers per hour, the ball hit the field directly, Iceland goalkeeper Bjorgvin Pall Gustavsson did not even react. The 19,000 spectators in Cologne were amazed and the voice of the stadium announcer rolled over, he was so excited. Fäth, however, just clenched his fist once, only to get in the way of an Icelandic move.

The German national handball team has written some beautiful stories this evening. First and foremost Steffen Fäth, who plays in time for the main round as well as he has rarely seen before. "Faith in Fäth", the trust in Fäth, maybe it was never bigger than after this first major round game.

With 5: 1 points, Germany is Group I leader, even ahead of the equal points French. The chances of the semi-finals are good - because the defense was safe as usual, but this time also impressed the offensive.

Drux's spin - a magical moment

Patrick Groetzki played some diagonal passes against which Iceland's defensive powerless. Fabian Wiede deftly distributed the balls, set the pace and sometimes he dragged it off. And then there was Paul Drux, the man who created the most spectacular scene in the game. At 16:14 he pulled past Olaf Gustafsson direction goal, jumped off and put the ball just before the landing with a spin past Gustavsson in goal. It was one of four Drux gates, and for sure it will be one to remember for a long time to come.

In general, Germany played its attacks more concentrated to end than in the games before. In the first half, 19 throws were enough for 14 goals, an outstanding quota. Since it was hardly noticeable that captain Uwe Gensheimer, in which almost all attacks end, this time had fewer actions.

And then there was the defensive, it is and remains the showpiece of the team. Germany began with a 6-0 formation, but have "repeatedly annoying goals caught," said Henrik Pekeler. "After a quarter of an hour we switched to 3-2-1, then the Icelanders did not remember much." Pekeler and Patrick Wiencek blocked litter by litter, and if an Icelander once found a gap between the defensive dunes, there was still Andreas Wolff. He parried twelve litters, his rate was 40 percent held balls.

Once Iceland crossed Stefan Rafn Sigurmannsson across the German defensive and played to right winger Sigvaldi Gudjonsson, who was suddenly free from Wolff, made two steps in the middle and threw. The ball was placed, Wolff was actually already on the way to the corner. Then Wolff's left hand shot up and somehow he steered the ball around the post. Wiencek and Pekeler watched almost devoutly, then flung their arms in the air, and the German bank was also raging. And the audience hardly did anything else anyway.

"I had goose bumps all the time"

"The audience has carried us through the game, of which I will still tell my children," said Drux after the first appearance in the arena in Cologne. And Pekeler said the home advantage could still play a very important role: "The atmosphere is amazing, I had goose bumps all the time."

For two days the German team has a break. On Monday (20.30 clock, live ticker SPIEGEL ONLINE) she plays against Croatia's selection to superstar Domagoj Duvnjak.

"Croatia is over the emotions, they play very aggressively and they have some players who are world class," said Prokop - and one can well imagine that Croatia coach Lino Cervar just says very similar sentences about Germany's handball players.