Was the game over yet?

Or did he still have to fend off a throw?

Joel Birlehm was much closer to the pitch than to the pounding shower when he was asked to assess the role he had played in the national handball team's 34:33 win against Serbia on Sunday evening.

"I don't even know the result," Birlehm said, running his hand over his face.

He had just bathed in adrenaline and celebrated with the German fans among the 2,500 spectators in Katowice's Spodek Arena.

And now the analysis?

That was a lot to ask of the goalkeeper, so shortly after the end of a game that the Germans made unnecessarily exciting, but finally brought home unscathed and will now start the main round of the World Cup in Poland and Sweden on Thursday with four points.

praise from all sides

Afterwards, everyone thanked Birlehm.

National coach Alfred Gislason, his teammates at the Rhein-Neckar Löwen, Jannik Kohlbacher, Patrick Groetzki and also playmaker Juri Knorr, also under contract in Mannheim.

He said curtly, "Joel saved our asses."

What looked reasonably comfortable with Julian Köster's 32:29 in the 48th minute didn't melt away after that, mainly because Birlehm held up his hands and feet to the Serbs' throws.

He even stole a seven meter.

Substituting Andreas Wolff, who was ineffective this time, in the 26th minute, Birlehm's first defense two minutes later saw the entire bench jump up: yes!

This was much needed support.

Birlehm is 25 years old, he was surprised when he found out about his nomination - Till Klimpke from Wetzlar is considered Wolff's heir to the throne.

Frustration with Iceland

But at home with the Löwen, Birlehm put in a strong first half of the season, achieved quotas in excess of 30 percent and, together with Sweden's Mikael Appelgren, forms the duo that is partly responsible for the Löwen's flight.

However, Birlehm appeared like the knight of the sad figure in the tests against Iceland.

Nothing wanted to work, many throws slipped through.

Birlehm is very visibly annoyed by something like this, he then seems downright desperate, as if he needs to be built up.

You could also tell how much he wanted to justify his nomination, how much he wanted to help the team.

That failed.

However, Birlehm's teammate Jannik Kohlbacher corrected the image of the frustrated goalkeeper: "I see him week after week.

Joel is not one to argue.

It wasn't easy for him against Iceland, it was a cold start.

All the better that he is here now.”

Thanks to Wolff

As a tournament debut, the pressure must not have been light when Birlehm came in on Sunday night, also as Wolff seemed hampered by his calf injury from the Qatar game.

With the first parade, Birlehm was in the game, grabbed a throw every now and then, cheered wildly, took the fans with him and was later a sought-after man in the interview zone of "Spodek": "I've been a very emotional goalkeeper.

When I see the pictures of myself, I surprise myself."

He thanked his "supervisor" politely: "I talk to Andi Wolff a lot.

In the game and around it.

It just helps to exchange ideas with such an experienced partner.”

Joel Birlehm has a few stations behind him.

Born in Herford, he was already considered a talent in Minden and Lübbecke, and then became a seasoned Bundesliga goalkeeper at SC DHfK Leipzig from 2019.

Big, agile, aggressive.

The Rhein-Neckar Löwen brought him in a year ago as a keeper with prospects.

Because of Appelgren's injury, Birlehm had to take responsibility earlier.

The year 2022 was an eventful one, because Joel Birlehm married his girlfriend Charlotte at the registry office in Heidelberg in July.

Only the EM, which went down in handball history as the Corona EM, he missed in January 2022: the birth of his daughter Mathilda came first.

But now Joel Birlehm is fully there at the DHB.

At least since Sunday.