In the entire Olympic handball tournament, the German national team rarely managed to release the handbrake.
Fight and spasm alternated in every game;
the attack performance never met the highest standards.
But with a good defense and strong goalkeepers in the decisive games against Argentina, Norway and Brazil, the DHB team reached the quarter-finals - there, the "Mission Gold" proclaimed years ago by DHB Vice President Bob Hanning ended on Tuesday afternoon.
And fully deserved. Seen over the whole game, the Germans had no chance against Egypt and lost 26:31. National coach Alfred Gislasons tried seven in the attack without speed, without ideas and far too often from a standing start. That was far too little against the sovereign Egyptians - it never became a problem for the team of Spanish coach Roberto Parrondo. The six games put together, only the Melsung right winger Timo Kastening had convinced. His conclusion was as straightforward as his game: “We absolutely deserved to be kicked out. Everything was missing. Defense, attack, goalkeeper and also the galling. We never got to our normal level. ”Gislason himself had watched the game largely motionless from the 50th minute on. He later said on ZDF:“We had an extremely large number of bad throws and didn't do what we set out to do. We didn't reach our tournament goal of the semi-finals. ”Denmark and Spain as well as Egypt and France will meet there on Thursday.
Not the dreaded Denmark, but the up-and-coming Egypt - that had initially felt good for the Germans. But the Egyptians had already shown how good they are at the home World Cup when they reached the quarter-finals. In addition, her U-19 selection was recently world champion. That a game against the Scandinavians would have been the better choice, the nervous and timid Germans may have thought for the first time at 1: 6 in the 10th minute. There was no recipe against the long left-hander Yahia Omar. Up front, the German professionals lacked courage, a plan, and lack of speed. And whenever the team came up (10:12 in the 24th minute), actions followed without the ultimate determination. Because Andreas Wolff, who started in goal, and later Johannes Bitter weren't much help either, the four-goal deficit at the break still seemed favorable.
But there was also a lot missing in the second half. A rehearsed second wave was practically non-existent. At 16:21 in the 43rd minute, the way to the medal games was very long. Gislason reacted and brought in the seventh field player, with whom things initially went better - Marcel Schiller shortened to 21:24 (49th minute). Egypt stayed cool, countered with four goals in a row and started cheering on the 28:21 lead in the 55th minute. Your goalkeeper Karim Hendawy increased to a rate of 40 percent held balls and became a Germany shock. However, the German actions still lacked the ultimate determination. That also applied to the bank: Gislason, who signed on as a “difference coach” a good two years ago, failed to prove that he could improve this team decisively in a short period of time.
Since the successes in 2016, German handball has remained trapped in no man's land. The move from Christian Prokop to Gislason has not changed that. The record in Tokyo: two mandatory victories, twice lost to the “big ones”, defeated emaciated Norwegians - and when it came down to it, they were unable to get the motivation they needed from a quarter-finals at the Olympics. However, it has to be taken into account that the team had a very short preparation after a very long season. But the trend remains - if the medals are handed out, the DHB has already traveled home, or as Kastening said: “I have now played my third tournament and have never reached a semi-final. We annoy the big guys, but we are not better. "