Scene with symbolic value: Sweden’s Jonathan Carlsbogard (l.) and Felix Claar slow down Germany’s Juri Knorr (m.).
Photo: dpa/Tom Welle
Handball players are tough guys, good at dishing it out but also good at taking it. They don’t complain, they keep going, even if it hurts. But a tournament like a European Championship with nine games within two and a half weeks pushes even guys like these to the limits of their endurance. At the end of such an event with encounters every two days, Sunday had one final act in store: the game for third place against the defending champions from Sweden.
On the record it quickly became clear that the will was certainly there, but the battered bodies were no longer taking part. The team of national coach Alfred Gislason had to accept a 31:34 (12:18) defeat, which hurt because there was a lot at stake that afternoon: The small final was not only particularly important because the German players were in the title fight wanted to finish with a medal around their neck in their own country, but also because third place at the continental summit was a ticket to the world Olympic Games in Paris was rewarded.
An additional incentive, because this would have saved the handball players, who are already rushing from appointment to appointment, an expensive qualification tournament that they now have to complete in addition to their club obligations.
It became clear, especially in the first half, that the Swedes, who were extremely experienced internationally, would secure the coveted ticket and not the Germans. Captain Johannes Golla and his colleagues lacked the tenacity and consistency in defense with which they had shone in the semi-final against Denmark, and they also missed their best shooting opportunities in a row on offense. The Swedes, on the other hand, circulated the ball with ease and pulled away with up to seven goals. Gislason was tearing his hair out on the sidelines, but he wasn’t able to provide any impetus from the bench that would help his team significantly.
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The game had to be stopped for a few minutes in the middle of the first half because a spectator collapsed in the stands. Once he had been stabilized and treated by the two team doctors and paramedics, he was able to continue.
Germany improved significantly in the second half, with goalkeeper Andreas Wolff in particular shining with spectacular saves that secured him a place in the European Championship all-star team. The Germans never gave up and continued to fight undaunted. With the score at 29:30 shortly before the end, they were close to having a chance to turn the game around, but it wasn’t enough to make a big throw.
“Finishing the tournament with a bronze medal would be great,” Gislason announced before the game. The German team failed to achieve this goal; the overall balance after nine games is mixed, despite making it into the round of the best four nations in Europe: four wins, one draw and four defeats – including three in a row at the end of the tournament – they can’t do that be the demands that the handball nation sets for itself.
Now there will be an additional shift against Croatia, Austria and Algeria in Hanover in mid-March in order to be able to do better at the Olympic Games in Paris. The two best nations in this four-way competition will be rewarded with a right to start in the tournament under the five rings on the Seine.
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