The German handball players had asked for an increase, and they delivered. With the best tournament performance, the DHB team confidently defeated Belarus at the start of the main round with 31:23 (18:11).
Courageous, with a lot of courage and a lot of power – the German handball players were unrecognizable compared to their appearances in the preliminary round in Trondheim and celebrated a convincing victory in Vienna against the Belarusians, which was never endangered.
“We showed a completely different face than in Trondheim. We were very good in the defense and were able to play our quick switch game. Overall, it was a great team effort,” said goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, who played a big part in the success this time.
National coach Christian Prokop was also satisfied: “That was a significant increase in performance in all parts of the team. The boys solved it fantastically,” said Prokop into the ARD microphone.
Finally EM mood
Big difference to the preliminary round games in Trondheim: There was a real EM atmosphere in the Wiener Stadthalle, and many German fans had found their way to the Austrian metropolis. “It was a great interaction between the team and the fans. We found our lightness again,” said right winger Timo Kastening, who alongside Andreas Wolff was the winner of the evening. Kastening was the best German marksman with six goals and was awarded “Man of the match”.
Basically, it was a start-finish victory for German handball players. The defense network around Hendrik Pekeler and Patrick Wiencek was also much more secure than last. Over 11: 4 and 13: 7, the DHB team worked out a calming seven-goal lead during the break. “There were great switching moments, sometimes a Kempa with it. There were many energy donors. I’m proud of that,” said a happy national coach Prokop.
Hit all field players
In the second round the Prokop changed cheerfully. EM debutant Johannes Golla was also used for the first time. Remarkable: All outfield players entered the goalscorer list – a sign of the good team result. The clear leadership was never jeopardized.
With the performance against Belarus in the back, the DHB handball players can now look a little more optimistically at the game against the undefeated Croatians. Germany is an outsider on Saturday (January 18, 2020, 8:30 p.m., live on ZDF), but needs another victory to achieve the desired goal, the semi-finals.
Source: sportschau.de
