Germany’s handball players ended their successful international year with a lackluster victory. National coach Alfred Gislason’s team beat Turkey in Ankara after a mixed performance with 36:29 (20:14) and are fully on track after their second win in the second game of the European Championship qualification.
“We are not happy with the game,” shooting star Renars Uscins told ARD: “Turkey got the feeling that they could keep up. At some point we no longer had a stable defense. The game was certainly in our hands, but not clear or decided. We have to do better.”
The nimble right winger Lukas Zerbe and backcourt player Marko Grgic (both 8 goals) were the best throwers for the selection of the German Handball Federation (DHB) on Sunday afternoon.
Goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, who led Germany as captain for the first time in his 171st international match replacing Johannes Golla, impressed in front of 2,090 spectators at the beginning with several saves and precise passes across the entire field. After the break, the Olympic silver medalist made a few mistakes defensively and caused Gislason to rage at times.
DHB team with a shaky initial phase
On the way to the 2025 World Cup (January 14th to February 2nd), the DHB coach used the one-sided game for testing and practice. The game in Anatolia was the last before the World Cup squad nominations in December. Players from the second row were also able to prove themselves in the German team. In the end the game was closer than Gislason would have liked.
In addition to Golla, who stayed at home due to muscular problems, the strong defensive Christoph Steinert was also missing from the DHB team for a short time. The left-hander suffered a broken metacarpal in the final training session. Before the international match week, several key players, including Juri Knorr and Julian Köster, had to withdraw due to injury. One of the 16 squad positions remained empty.
After a shaky opening phase in which Germany couldn’t get into the game offensively and the Turks were even in the lead, the guests took control of the game – especially thanks to their great accuracy and speed in attack. At first it was not important against the underdog, who had never qualified for a European Championship or World Cup, that there were some gaps in the converted inner block with Sebastian Heymann and Justus Fischer.
When the Turks reduced the score to three goals at 21:24 (42nd), Gislason burst his collar during a timeout. “Guys, listen to me, damn it. We have to step on the gas,” demanded the 65-year-old. But there were no serious doubts about the German victory even after the break. Nevertheless, the Turks continued to delight their audience, who had free entry and created a heated atmosphere, with goals that were, from a German perspective, easy.
At the start of the European Championship qualification, the German team won confidently against Switzerland (35:26) in Mannheim last Thursday. The third DHB opponent is Austria. The two best teams in Group 7 will win a ticket to the finals in Denmark, Sweden and Norway (January 13th to February 1st, 2026).
Source: www.sport.de
