The German national handball team has left hell behind them: they suffered a clear defeat against hosts Denmark. In the first 30 minutes of the opening game of the World Cup main round, the DHB selection was historically overrun.
What happened in the Jyske Bank Boxen?
Herning doesn’t make it easy to like. At least not at first glance. There is a lot of industry in the small town of 50,000 inhabitants, even the beautiful parts of the community are hidden under the veil of the wet Danish winter, and a motorway runs right through the town. And this evening it seems as if they have also moved the expressway right through the Jyske Bank Boxen. And the Danes, this superior team, constantly used the fast lane and faster than handball actually allows. They scored 24 goals against the German team in the first 30 minutes of this World Cup main round game. It was already 24:18 at halftime, and in the end the completely unleashed Danish fans celebrated a 40:30 victory.
In defense, the German team was often just an astonished observer when the Danes used their high-speed handball. The people in the stands screamed with excitement, there was an infernal noise. Almost non-stop. After just 20 minutes, national coach Alfred Gislason had sent his third formation into the race in the inner block. There was simply no remedy against Danish racing. “It’s amazing what quality they have,” said German left winger Rune Dahmke in amazement after the game.
The ball wasn’t quite in the goal at the front, but at the back they already had world handball player Mathias Gidsel on their hands in their own circle. Attack after attack rolled towards the German goal, and they were only able to keep up in a few phases. At half-time they must have felt as if they had been run over by a Danish semi-trailer. So they left the square half in disbelief, half in shock. To put it politely, the German team was given a lesson in offensive handball. In fact, it was a disaster, as Gislason’s desperate search for a defensive formation showed.
They scored well offensively, even if the circle play was non-existent over almost the entire distance despite numerous attempts and the outside players only threw four shots at goal. But after 23 minutes they had even unnerved goalkeeper Emil Nielsen, who almost didn’t get a hand on any ball fired from the German backcourt. “I don’t think we played that bad of a game. Even if we ended up with ten on our backsides,” said right winger Timo Kastening. But at the back they were simply overwhelmed, no matter what constellation and what idea they tried.
The expectations weren’t exactly high in the German camp: Director Juri Knorr wanted to see what would happen – “it would only be nice if we didn’t lose by 13 goals again,” like in this disastrous Olympic final in 2024. At least they managed that, Dahmke found it “a shame that we weren’t a little closer in the end.” They had actually fought their way to four goals in the middle of the second half, but then it was “mainly due to Denmark, who stepped up a gear again and ran us into the ground.”
How great the respect there is for these Danes, who held a master class in offensive handball, was shown by a reaction: The German backcourt player Marko Grgic, who was in the middle of a bad attrition in which the German team was only behind for 62 seconds, knew afterwards Not even saying “whether the Danes even played at 100 percent”.
Was this the expected hell ride?
A resounding YES! Seven Danish handball players and 15,000 fans in the Jyske Bank boxes put the German team through a hell of a game from the first second. Handball couldn’t be much worse, against the backdrop and against the best team in the world. Mathias Gidsel, the outstanding player of the evening, was able to reassure Marko Grgic – see above – at least that: They had a few problems in defense this time, but otherwise it was “one of the best performances that a Danish national team has ever shown, I I’m very proud.”
On the way through hell, this is the worst possible news: the devil is in fine form and in a great mood too. “With this backdrop and this pace, Denmark was a bit too strong for Germany.” In the end, Gidsel was the best thrower of the game with ten goals. “Germany noticed how great the pressure from the crowd was,” he said, who repeatedly cheered on his compatriots in the stands – as if that had been necessary. “The energy that a Danish player gets from this setting is outstanding.” Every single hit resulted in a massive eruption. From the first to the last goal.
42 goals in 30 minutes: Was this crazy first half historic?
-Yes! A German senior national team has never conceded 24 goals in one half in the 1,496 international matches in the association’s long history. This wild slide even tops the 21 goals that the DHB team missed from the Danes in the first 30 minutes of the fight for gold at the end of an exciting journey through the 2024 Olympic Games.
The 40 goals that were on the scoreboard at the end were also a negative record for the German team: neither at the World or European Championships, nor at the Olympics, had a German national team conceded 40 goals until that evening.
The scene of the game:
It was sometime in the middle of the second half: Andreas Wolff had just spectacularly saved a Danish counterattack from close range when he wordlessly provided the commentary on the game: Instead of celebrating his magnificent save in the tried and tested foot-over-head style, the world-class goalkeeper just looked empty stare through the hall. At least he dutifully gave a thumbs up towards the bench. Wolff knew long ago: No matter what we try here, the next nasty blow to the neck is only an attack away. And there was still loud clapping. Until the end. The devil was unwilling to give gifts.
But what’s the good news?
In the 18th minute, Timo Kastening did something big: the German right winger Emil Nielsen shot out of the goal. The world-class goalkeeper didn’t even have a chance at any of the three German seven-meter penalties. World-class goalkeeper Kevin Möller took over for Nielsen on Kastening’s fourth attempt. And the Flensburg man also seemed to have solved this Danish problem. But only briefly: A few seconds later Kastening confidently sank the ball again, and the Melsunger then followed up with two more hits from the line.
Six goals from seven attempts is an excellent rate – after the DHB team had only converted two of its eight seven-meter penalties in the preliminary round. The seven-meter dilemma had actually become an issue in recent days, and the question was even jokingly raised as to whether goalkeeper Andreas Wolff had to be called in to solve the problem. The German seven-meter score was a bright spot on this wild evening.
Just as gratifying: Although the German team was usually well behind from the 63rd second until the final siren, but unlike in previous tournament games, the German attack quickly got up to speed. They repeatedly pushed the pace, made courageous throwing decisions and scored with great conviction. Against nations that don’t have the devilish qualities of the Danes, this performance can be more than enough.
Is everything now lost?
Not at all: “That was our least important game ever at this World Cup,” said Germany left winger Rune Dahmke after the game. The veteran, who was personally there at the 2016 European Championships when Germany beat Denmark at a tournament for the last time on the way to the title, did not take the defeat lightly. But of course he had the constellation in the main round group I ready. Already with a win next Thursday against Italy (6 p.m. / ZDF and in the live ticker on ntv.de) The German team is sure to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup – if Switzerland then also loses against Denmark. From what we know, everything else is impossible.
The DHB team now has a small final waiting for them against Italy, who surprisingly beat the Czech Republic 25:18 (14:9) earlier in the evening. But no matter what happens now: it can only get easier. These Danes would probably wait until the semi-finals. “And then,” said Dahmke, not exactly enthusiastically, “we’ll try it again.”
