The first half was weak, then they moved away: The German handball players have passed their dress rehearsal before the home World Cup. The team of national coach Christian Prokop defeated Panamerikameister Argentina 28:13 (9: 6).

Captain Uwe Gensheimer was best scorer with eight goals, in good form was also the defense around the strong goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, who fended off many free throws. The World Cup tournament in Germany and Denmark begins on 10 January with the opening match between the DHB team and Korea, which will compete with a unified team from South and North Korea.

The test against Argentina should prepare the DHB selection for their second group match against Brazil on January 12th (here you will find the schedule for the Handball World Cup). The Argentinians play a similarly physical handball as Germany's second group opponent. Both South American teams are among the weaker of the 24 teams at the World Cup.

Before the start of the Argentine test Coach Prokop had announced his final World Cup squad. The national coach stroked Tobias Reichmann and Tim Suton from the squad. The non-nomination of Reichmann surprised because now Patrick Groetzki is only a trained right winger in the squad. Reichmann was the sensational title win at the European Championships 2016 best German scorer.

The controversial non-nomination of Finn Lemke before the European Championship 2018, the measure is not comparable. With the renouncement of the team structure important Lemke Prokop had the team decisively unsettled and was jointly responsible for the early European Championship one year ago.

Here you can see Germany's World Cup squad:

That's the DHB squad

Andreas Wolff, Goalkeeper, THW Kiel (Internationals: 72 / international goals: 9) * As of 13 December 2018

Silvio Heinevetter, Goalkeeper, Füchse Berlin (Internationals: 178 / Internationals Goals: 2)

Uwe Gensheimer, Left Wing, Paris St. Germain (Internationals: 158 / Internationals: 733)

Matthias Musche, Left Wing, SC Magdeburg (Internationals: 29 / international goals: 51)

Finn Lemke, Back space left, MT Melsungen (Internationals: 66 / international goals: 24)

Fabian Böhm, Back space left, TSV Hannover-Burgdorf (Internationals: 13 / international goals: 18)

Steffen Fäth, Rückraum links, Rhein-Neckar Löwen (International: 65 / international goals: 137)

Paul Drux, Rückraum Mitte, Füchse Berlin (Internationals: 64 / international goals: 125)

Martin Strobel, Rückraum Mitte, HBW Balingen-Weilstetten (Internationals: 138 / international goals: 156)

Fabian Wiede, back area right, Füchse Berlin (Internationals: 63 / international goals: 119)

Steffen Weinhold, Rückraum right, THW Kiel (Internationals: 112 / international goals: 280)

Franz Semper, Right Backcourt, SC DHfK Leipzig (Internationals: 3 / internationals: 9)

Patrick Groetzki, Right Wing, Rhein-Neckar Löwen (International: 131 / International goals: 350)

Patrick Wiencek, Kreisläufer, THW Kiel (Internationals: 121 / international goals: 274)

Hendrik Pekeler, circle runner, THW Kiel (Internationals: 82 / international goals: 129)

Jannik Kohlbacher, Kreislaufer, Rhein-Neckar Löwen (International: 48 / international goals: 92)

Germany's other group opponents are next to Korea and Brazil, the Russian selection (January 14), France (January 15) and Serbia (January 17).

The German team must land in the preliminary round at least among the first three teams to move into the main round. There are two groups and only the first and second place finishers reach the semi-finals in Hamburg. The final round will take place from 26 to 27 January in Herning, Denmark.