National team on the way to the EM: The experiment with the new handball

About the nomination of the “new” national handball team, sentences were spoken that made people sit up and take notice. Some sounded as if Alfred Gislason was actually betting on his young group at the upcoming European Championships in Hungary and Slovakia. Other things suggested that the national coach would gain experience in order to play a sensible role in the continental competition. Gislason said: “Before the Olympics, the team was broken. We couldn't prepare properly because I always had to be considerate. The people I have with me now are fresher than the seasoned players. ”In Tokyo, the national team had been a long way from reaching the semi-finals.

At the international games against Portugal on Friday (30:28) in Luxembourg and on Sunday as part of the “Day of Handball” (30:32) in Düsseldorf, Gislason tried out new debutants after the World Cup and the Olympics; even players from the second division were there. He wants to have more choice than before, also in order to be able to react to injuries. “I can feel the spirit of optimism,” said Gislason, who is backed by Axel Kromer, the sports director of the German Handball Federation (DHB): “We are serious about the upheaval. If we want to develop something, we have to provide training stimuli. That doesn't work with players who have played a lot of games over the years and are tired. "

There were many waking moments in both games.

Not only when it came to individuals like Julian Köster from Gummersbach from the second division, playmaker Luca Witzke from Leipzig or Djibril M'Bengue, who plays for Porto.

Offensive defense, second wave, withdrawal behavior: Gislason tried a few things with the young guard.

There was a lot to discover - and that was fun, even if too many technical errors and an overly disembodied defense angered Gislason on Sunday.

"We want to see the younger ones"

The DHB's path to the European Championship, which begins in mid-January, can therefore be described as follows: It is better to go to a tournament with inexperienced, fresh players than with old professionals who lick their wounds on courses. This is actually an astonishing departure from the previous nomination behavior of national coaches. But it logically follows the failures in the previous tournaments - apart from the World Cup in Egypt, the DHB always had experienced teams at the start.

Gislason and Kromer have drawn their conclusions. The national coach seems to have blossomed among the novices. But he also says: “We want to see the younger ones. But we will of course nominate the best possible team. ”That means that neither for goalkeeper Andreas Wolff nor for Melsung backcourt players Julius Kühn and Kai Häfner the door is closed. With a probability bordering on certainty, Gislason will fall back on the Kiel defender Patrick Wiencek for the EM. This time he was absent for private reasons. Finn Lemke can also keep hopes. But of course not naming the established ones contained a memorable factor.

It's no secret that Gislason generally feels more comfortable in a group of experienced players. It was the same in Magdeburg, Gummersbach and Kiel when he was the club's coach. Gislason said: “It is difficult when Germans over 30 no longer play in the national team. Unfortunately that is different than in Spain and France. ”His greetings went to Hendrik Pekeler, Steffen Weinhold and Uwe Gensheimer.

You have resigned from the DHB selection or are pausing for a longer period (Pekeler).

Gensheimer and Weinhold were ceremoniously bid farewell on Sunday.

The reasons are well known and are mainly due to the frequent injuries and the lack of compatibility of family and work.

On the one hand, the major renovation is a necessity, but on the other hand you can also hear that Gislason would like to have players like Pekeler and Weinhold with them.

So he had a team without Kieler on this course.

DHB has no goalkeeper worries

Whatever the German squad for Euro 2022 will look like: Gislason is building ahead.

He would like to avoid a failure like the one at the World Cup at the beginning of the year.

He had expected his weakened team to be stronger than it was - twelfth place.

That didn't suit the ambitious Icelander at all.

Now he says: “We are going to the European Championships with an inexperienced team and are certainly not among the favorites. We want to gain experience there and deliver good games. ”In preliminary group D, his seven fights against Austria, Poland and Belarus for a place in the main round. That should work. But the further way is peppered with complicated opponents and reaching the semi-finals would be a surprise.

However, it will not be billed until the European Championships at home in 2024. A leading role is intended for Johannes Golla from Flensburg.

The new DHB captain should lead the way at the age of just 24 - in Luxembourg and Düsseldorf he already gave significantly more commands than last.

And things are looking pretty good behind the defense chief: Both Joel Birlehm from Leipzig and Till Klimpke from Wetzlar gave an idea that the DHB has no goalkeeper worries.

However, a strong Andreas Wolff cannot be replaced by either of the two.

Charisma and experience speak for the professional from Kielce.

Which brings you back to the question of how seriously this upheaval is really meant - the Portugal games definitely made us want more of this young team.