The picture of Julian Köster (VfL Gummersbach) with Friedrich Merz (CDU) exudes relaxedness within the scope of its possibilities. With a bottle of “Grøn Tuborg” in his left hand, Köster shakes the Chancellor’s hand with a smile. Men from North Rhine-Westphalia among themselves. Köster comes from Brauweiler, Merz is proud of his Sauerland origins.
The rest of the team looks rather uneasy in this cabin view from Sunday evening. Just like you look after a final defeat when the Chancellor comes to congratulate you – and your mind is still on the defeat.
Apparently Merz found the right words: “He came across as friendly,” said national coach Alfred Gislason cheerfully, “we were happy about this gesture.” Friedrich Merz watched the thrilling duel alongside the Social Democratic Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, in the stands of the “Jyske Bank Boxen”. He was tense, she was more relaxed because of the constant Danish leadership. At the victory ceremony, Queen Mary of Denmark presented the medals.
It was a festival in red and white in which the Germans kept up for a long time. More precisely, until 27:29 in the 55th minute. Once again Goalkeeper Andreas Wolff had saved their butts. But late on, the German offensive collapsed under the pressure of having to score in every attack. Wolff sensed that. His resistance weakened, and the best keeper in the world was left with nothing but applause for the European champions – the fact that the Danish seven-goal victory did not correspond to the balance of power (34:27) no longer mattered to anyone.
Strange referee whistles
This time the selection of the German Handball Federation (DHB) not only had to defend itself against the sporting class of the over-Danish. But also accept some strange decisions from the Montenegrin referees, endure theatrics after common fouls (Gidsel, Arnoldsen, Hoxer) and endure the hostile atmosphere in the packed “Jyske Bank Boxen”. 15,000 of the 16,000 people booed them during the warm-up. This headwind resulted in red cards after relatively harmless actions against Tom Kiesler and Jannik Kohlbacher. The Germans shouldn’t act like that, warned the Danish star Mathias Gidsel: “It was no different against us in Cologne two years ago.”
With the exception of the always blunt Marko Grgic, they resisted any criticism and pointed out that they would hopefully enjoy this “home advantage” at the home World Cup in a year: “We have been in the semi-finals twice in the last three tournaments. Maybe in two or three years we will be the team to beat,” said Wolff.
The goalkeeper from THW Kiel, like runner Johannes Golla from SG Flensburg-Handewitt, was elected to the all-star team at this handball fair in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. On average, Wolff fended off every third throw in the nine games. Given this stability, this is a fabulous value.
Long-time player Gidsel later, mentally tired and with tears in his eyes (“It was a lot of pressure to win here”), was honored as the most valuable player and top goalscorer – he scored 68 goals in nine games. Most of the German hits were scored by Renars Uscins; 43. The 23-year-old Hanoverian had a bad day in the grand final and needed seven attempts to score two goals.
Also others like the much-noticed one Juri Knorr was unable to match his performance against Denmark in the France game, that was the best of the Germans at this Euro. The introverted, highly talented director had reprimanded Gislason after the Serbia game for his one-sided selection of personnel. After discussion and better player management, the Germans took their foot off the brake and showed some inspiring, self-confident and courageous handball. This was a big step forward compared to the previous World Cup.
“The development makes me prouder than the silver medal,” said Gislason. His pride lies in the fact that he has built this team since taking office in February 2020. Early on he trusted young players like Golla, Köster and Knorr. Along with goalkeeper Wolff, they form the axis of a team that has been expanded to include six U21 world champions from 2023. The squad is now in better shape than ever. “The Germans are very good and very young,” praised Gidsel, “they should stop hiding. They are now always one of the teams fighting for the final.”
For Gislason, the World Cup at the beginning of 2027 will probably be the last tournament as DHB head coach. “We have established ourselves at the top of the world and want to go even further next year,” said the 66-year-old Icelander. That sounded extraordinarily brave by his standards.