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World Cup thriller without a happy ending: Germany's handball players missed group victory at the handball world championship with a 28:29 (14:15) against Hungary and have to worry about the targeted quarter-finals.

After the first defeat under national coach Alfred Gislason, the DHB selection goes into the main round with 2: 2 points, where it is all or nothing at the start on Thursday against European champions Spain.

Other main round opponents are Poland and Brazil.

The best thrower for the German team in Gizeh on Tuesday was Marcel Schiller with seven goals.

Wolff weak

For the first time at this tournament, goalkeeper Andreas Wolff stood between the posts after the 29-year-old had paused in the clear 43:14 opening win against Uruguay and the second German preliminary round match of the DHB selection against Cape Verde had been canceled due to corona.

The goalkeeper from the Polish top club Vive Kielce was not the hoped-for strong support - also because his front men offered the Hungarians far too many gaps in the defense.

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Surprisingly, only on the bench sat captain Uwe Gensheimer, for whom Schiller was preferred.

The 29-year-old from Frisch Auf Göppingen turned out to be a good representative and was the most accurate German shooter in the first half.

Nevertheless, the DHB selection was behind after 17 minutes at 6:10 with four goals, which prompted Gislason to take the first time-out.

"We don't get enough access in defense and lose too many balls," complained the national coach with clear words.

Dissatisfied: Alfred Gislason (center)

Source: AFP

Shortly afterwards he got Wolff from the floor and sent oldie Johannes Bitter into the German goal.

But even the 38-year-old could not achieve much at first because the German team could hardly find any means on the defensive against the agile and variable Hungarians.

"Close up inside", Gislason demanded loudly in the next break two minutes before the break at 12:15.

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That made an impact.

Bitter parried two throws in a row and the DHB selection took advantage of their chances.

So it was only a little behind in the cabin.

“We allowed too many chances at the back and left out a lot at the front.

That's why we chased for a while ”, summed up DHB sports director Axel Kromer after the first 30 minutes.

Too many errors

With the restart it got better in defense, but the Gislason team often sinned in the end.

The national coach now sent Gensheimer onto the floor and later also right winger Patrick Groetzki, who was nominated for Tobias Reichmann, who was injured in his knee, and who only joined the team on Monday.

But especially back player Paul Drux provided a lot of momentum.

In the middle of the second half everything was open at 22:22.

In the exciting final phase, the scales then tipped in favor of the Hungarians, who at the end cheered exuberantly over the narrow victory in almost the last second.