The new, realistic note that had arrived was comical in its uniformity.

"We're not getting too enthusiastic," said Joel Birlehm.

"We have to be careful not to get too excited," said Rune Dahmke, "it was only the preliminary round." And the experienced Kai Häfner judged: "We have a good starting position.

Not more."

The national players replied on Wednesday as if the German Handball Federation (DHB) had penalized statements that were already dealing with the quarter-finals of the World Cup next Wednesday in Gdansk.

Of course, everyone knows how tangible the knockout round is.

But you learn from bad experiences.

"In the past we often speculated too much about who could come next and then lost the next game," goalkeeper Andreas Wolff said before the World Cup in Poland and Sweden.

"Nothing achieved yet"

The DHB selection did not fall into this trap in the days of Katowice.

First she had defeated the stronger opponents, Qatar and Serbia, then on Tuesday evening she let the festival of enthusiasm against Algeria follow: At 37:21 in the "Spodek" arena those professionals also contributed to the good feeling after the undefeated preliminary round, the previously only played supporting roles: Luca Witzke controlled the attacks.

Djibril M'Bengue threw four goals.

Simon Ernst held the defense together.

Jannik Kohlbacher scored ten goals, also fed by Dahmke.

"You could see in this game that we don't doubt ourselves too much," said Ernst, "everyone who comes in does their job." The dinner we had planned for a long time in a restaurant was the reward for a successful first phase of the tournament: "It It was nice to eat at the table with a knife and fork and have the menu delivered,” said Dahmke mischievously.

Other team evenings could follow.

In any case, the Germans have extended the atmospheric event in the Silesian metropolis as planned.

This Thursday (6 p.m., in the FAZ live ticker for the Handball World Cup and on ARD) Argentina is waiting as the first main round opponent.

The Netherlands and Norway will follow on Saturday and Monday (each at 8.30 p.m.).

Two wins are probably enough to advance to the last eight;

there it could go against France or Spain.

However, the imaginary speech bubble hovered over everyone's heads at the media event on Wednesday: "We haven't achieved anything yet." This is how Joel Birlehm classified the big win against the North Africans: "Our players with Champions League experience live it up.

While I'm happy about every save, a win against Algeria is nothing special for our experienced team.” Birlehm said that he was only as good as his last game.

Netherlands game as the sticking point

You don't want to let anything slide, you don't want to be satisfied too quickly.

Don't even think about the Netherlands and Norway, full focus on Argentina.

"We still know them from the Olympic Games a year and a half ago," said Captain Johannes Golla.

In July 2021, the DHB selection won 33:25.

Fast, agile, unconventional, that's how the Argentines whirl around their captain and playmaker Diego Simonet.

He has been earning his money in Montpellier for years.

Also under contract there is the powerful pivot Lucas Moscariello.

While the South Americans were clearly defeated by the Netherlands at the start of Group F in Kraków (19:29) and also had little to do against Norway (21:32), the 35:26 win against North Macedonia gave them the necessary points to advance .

So Argentina first – and then?

"It's not just said, it's a necessity to only think about the next game," said Dahmke - in order to still provide an assessment of the next but one showdown: "The Dutch are individually very well trained and have the playmaker from Paris in Luc Steins Saint Germain.

In addition, Kay Smits from Magdeburg is good in every tournament.”

Dahmke, 29, did not want to agree that the game against the neighbors was the sticking point for everything else: "If we think too much about the Netherlands and Norway and lose against Argentina, we'll look stupid."

Although he must be allowed to muse about Norway.

His girlfriend, world handball player Stine Oftedal, comes from Oslo.

Her sister Hanna married Sander Sagosen in the summer of 2022;

Dahmke's teammates in Kiel - and opponents on Monday.

"The trash talk is yet to come," said Dahmke, grinning broadly.