The newly formed German handball players fought their way into the European Championships with a success they had worked hard to achieve. The young team of national coach Alfred Gislason beat Belarus 33:29 (17:18) in their first game on Friday evening after major initial difficulties. The best throwers of the German team were Kai Häfner and Marcel Schiller with eight goals each. Before the second preliminary round game on Sunday (6 p.m., live on ARD and in the FAZ live ticker for the European Handball Championship) against Austria, the DHB selection is on course thanks to the successful start of the main round.
"First of all, it was incredibly important for us to win this game and start the tournament well," said Gislason. And that was all that counted in the end: two hard-earned points at the start of the European Championship, no matter how they came about. "I think we can improve a lot in defense and in goal. We pretty much left the goalkeepers alone.”
At the beginning, almost nothing went according to plan in front of 1291 spectators in Bratislava. Instead of bringing in the experienced Andreas Wolff, Gislason initially put on tournament newcomer Till Klimpke in goal – which paid off at all. The 23-year-old from HSG Wetzlar didn't hold a ball in the early stages. That's another reason why the DHB selection was suddenly 2:7 behind after an early 2:1 lead in the eleventh minute. And Gislason reacted promptly: Wolff came on the record earlier than planned, and the weak Sebastian Heymann also had to give way at first.
It was already certain that a number of newcomers to the German squad would play their first European Championship game.
How they would do in an emergency only became apparent on the field.
Only after the sometimes highly nervous early minutes did Gislason's upheaval team increase.
With the 2016 European champions Wolff and Julius Kühn, the DHB selection gained stability and experience.
The result: after 21 minutes they were 11:10 in the lead, but at the break the ripped-off Belarusians were ahead again.
The game initially remained a rollercoaster ride.
"We have to be much more compact in defence, be more aggressive," said team manager Oliver Roggisch at half-time on ARD.
"More help, it has to come now.
The goalkeepers will come now too.”
At least the veteran Wolff actually improved a little, but the 30-year-old didn't have his best day either. Nevertheless, the DHB selection was better. On the one hand, this was due to the fact that the Belarusians' dreaded rotation game over their world-class player Artsem Karalek didn't work quite as well as in the first half. On the other hand, the German team now used their chances more consistently. At least initially. Because although the Belarusians were also losing more and more condition, Gislason's team was not able to break away significantly at first. As usual, the Icelander trotted along the edge of the page, sometimes venting his frustration loudly, sometimes nervously chewing his fingernails.
Even more experienced players like Timo Kastening couldn't shed their tension and in the end missed some of the best opportunities.
That's why the coach didn't really find peace until late in the game.
Then the DHB selection sat down.
And in the end, the basis for the targeted entry into the main round was well deserved.
However, given the problems in the early stages, the outstanding Häfner spoke of a complicated game.
"We didn't know where we were.
And if I'm honest, I don't really know after this game either.
That's why we're all the happier that we were able to win the game," said the backcourt player.