Home » News » Thanks to Bitter: German handball players don’t give Austria a chance

Thanks to Bitter: German handball players don’t give Austria a chance

Updated January 20, 2020, 10:13 p.m.

With a sovereign success against Austria, the German handball players qualify for the game for fifth place in the European Championship. National coach Prokop should also do the win good for another reason.

You can find more sports topics here

The German handball players passed the European Championship character test in a prestigious duel with Austria and thus reduced the pressure on national coach Christian Prokop. An outstanding Johannes Bitter in goal secured the DHB selection on Monday evening in the Wiener Stadthalle the 34:22 (16:13) victory over the co-host and thus also the game for fifth place on Saturday (4:00 p.m.) Stockholm. The best thrower of the German team in front of around 9,000 spectators was Timo Kastening with six goals.

The mini-chance for the semi-finals of the European Championship, on the other hand, was already gone before the game against the Austrians because defending champions Spain had won their game against Belarus with a convincing 37:28. Only a victory for the Belarusians with seven or eight goals would have kept Germany’s low hopes for a medal alive. Instead, the final main round game on Wednesday (8.30 p.m. / ZDF) against the Czech Republic is now about nothing.

Print on Prokop

Prokop acted as usual on the sidelines and was constantly on the move. Before the game, DHB Vice President Bob Hanning had given the game for fifth place as a new minimum goal and thus increased the pressure on Prokop – and the 41-year-old and his team held up. The DHB selection initially had problems against the Austrians driven by their fans. But at the latest with the inclusion of Bitter, who replaced Andreas Wolff, who was hapless this time, Prokop showed a good hand.

Prokop took the 28-year-old off the plate in the 15th minute and brought the 37-year-old veteran into play. The measure first took effect when Bitter fended off a seven-meter shot from Bundesliga professional Robert Weber (HSG Nordhorn-Lingen) six minutes later. After that, the 2007 world champion got better and better. With his further parades, Bitter was the guarantor for numerous counterattacks, one of the most reliable goalscorers was the once again accurate boxing.

Praise for bitter

“He has a huge experience, which he immediately brought in. That was important for the team,” DHB sports director Axel Kromer praised the keeper during the half-time break on ARD. For this, it initially failed somewhat in the positional attack. Some backfield players made technical mistakes, and captain Uwe Gensheimer again did not find his top form on the left wing. However, these shortcomings were not significant because the internationally rather second-class Austrians hardly emitted any danger. In addition, Tobias Reichmann safely converted every five seven meters.

The slight injury to defensive giant Patrick Wiencek, who stayed outside in the second half, did not endanger the victory. It is not yet clear who the German team will compete for in fifth place. But Kromer had an explanation of why it wasn’t enough for the target medal at the EM. “Our squad is currently not an absolute world class in broad terms.” (Mss / dpa)

– ,

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.