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Cologne (dpa) - Goal gala as an encouragement: With a glamorous dress rehearsal, Germany's handball players have gained a lot of self-confidence for the World Cup in Egypt and bought their ticket for the EM 2022 early.
The DHB selection celebrated a 34:20 (19: 5) win over Austria in Cologne and thus the fourth success in the fourth qualifying game.
The best thrower for the German team was debutant Antonio Metzner with five goals, captain Uwe Gensheimer and Paul Drux scored four times.
On Tuesday, the team of national coach Alfred Gislason flies with a lot of tailwind to the World Cup finals in Egypt, where they meet Uruguay, Cape Verde and Hungary in the preliminary round.
"That was a great performance", praised DHB sports director Axel Kromer on his 44th birthday at the break.
"We are on his very good path."
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Four days after the 36:27 in the first leg, the DHB selection started furiously in the game in front of empty ranks.
After nine minutes, the fifth of the previous year was 5-0 ahead and increased this to 12-1 (17th) after conceding the first goal with a 7-0 run.
Even without the regular defensive supports Hendrik Pekeler, Patrick Wiencek and Finn Lemke, who voluntarily renounced the World Cup due to the Corona crisis, the defense around the strong Sebastian Firnhaber from HC Erlangen was stable and hardly let the Austrians get through.
If so, goalkeeper Andreas Wolff was a strong support and provided additional security with numerous parades.
The 29-year-old keeper from the Polish top team Vive Kielce caused unrest in the run-up to the game with his violent criticism of the World Cup cancellation by some teammates.
However, the German team was unimpressed by this and impressed at times.
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In attack, there was danger from all positions, even when Gislason cheerfully changed in the middle of the first half.
Metzner made his debut in the DHB jersey and scored his first international goal four and a half minutes before the break.
The backcourt player from HC Erlangen paid for that with a small dent.
After the change, goalkeeping veteran Silvio Heinevetter from MT Melsungen moved between the posts for Wolff to collect match practice.
The 36-year-old also showed a convincing performance.
In addition, Christian Dissinger made his comeback and started well with the first German goal in the second half.
Nevertheless, there was a break in the German game, which was no longer running at full speed due to the many personnel changes.
Large gaps in defense and slight ball losses in attack let the Austrians come back into the game and annoyed Gislason, who reacted with a time-out at 20:12 (39th).
Then his protégés tightened up again and easily brought home the clear victory.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210110-99-972980 / 3
The German group in the European Championship qualification
Squad of German handball players
Game schedule of the German handball players
Presidium of the German Handball Federation
Board of the German Handball Federation