Handball players defeat Switzerland: “Andi saved our butts”

Seine Laune hatte sich eine halbe Stunde nach Spielende nur unwesentlich gebessert. Ein Medienliebling wird Andreas Wolff nicht mehr in seiner Karriere, davon ist auszugehen. Ob der Gang zum Zahnarzt ihm lieber wäre, als Auskunft zu geben?

Jedenfalls machte der am Freitagabend überragende Torwart der deutschen Handball-Nationalmannschaft auch nach dem zittrigen 31:29-(15:14)-Sieg über die Schweiz seine Witzchen, ließ Raum für Interpretationen, beantwortete Fragen spöttisch, mit dem ihm eigenen Humor.

Dass er sich in diesem zweiten Spiel der Deutschen bei der Weltmeisterschaft in Dänemark, Norwegen und Kroatien aufgeregt hatte über seine Vorderleute, war so sichtbar wie verständlich – lange war es eine Abwehr in Rudimenten, ja, wenn es erlaubt ist: löchrig wie ein Emmentaler.

Wolff schrie sie an, gestikulierte, versuchte, sie aufzuwecken, blieb nach Gegentoren provokativ sitzen, sprach lange draußen an der Bank mit seinem Positionskollegen David Späth, trank, während deutsche Angriffe liefen. Das wirkte wie: Muss ich es schon wieder herausreißen?

Wolff, mit seinem mächtigen Brustkorb immer eine imposante Erscheinung, sagte später auf die Frage, was ihn so erregt habe nur ausweichend, dass die Klimaanlage so warm eingestellt gewesen sei, dass ihm heiß wurde.

With a provocative grin, the 33-year-old from Kiel made it clear that he had no interest in this conversation and stuck to his joking version when asked. An unusual communication by handball standards.

Andreas Wolff fended off 20 balls in the well-filled Herning arena. Almost nothing got through, especially from the right wing – poor Swiss Gian Attenhofer must have dreamed of the big, bad Wolff. “Andi saved our butts today,” said strong left winger Lukas Mertens.

The quality was reminiscent of the last five throws he parried against Spain in the Olympic semi-finals. “Wolff saves Germany” has been an established headline for years. But against Switzerland? With all due respect to coach Andi Schmid's selection, it could have been a little more confident, especially since they are missing their best player Manuel Zehnder with an injury.

Anyway – the selection of the German Handball Federation (DHB) reached the main round, where Denmark, Italy and probably Tunisia are waiting. In order to start there with maximum yield, the Czechs would have to be defeated in the last preliminary round game on Sunday evening (6 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Handball World Cup and on ARD).

It was the fourth appearance in a row that the Germans missed. National coach Alfred Gislason took the first time out after nine minutes. Neither the front nor the back matched.

Apparently deceived by the impression of recent high victories against their neighbors and also put to sleep by Schmid's clever strategy of making the Germans the towering favorites, the score was 4:7 before things looked smoother at 13:10 thanks to Juri Knorr in the 27th minute.

But nothing like that, this game became a hike in the Swiss Alps, steep, strenuous, sweaty and with very little time to enjoy beautiful views, because the Swiss repeatedly overran the German defense after winning the ball: “We shouldn't get ahead of them “I'll say that internally too.” Anyone who concedes a lot of goals against the lightning-fast Danes will have to accept that as fate. But against Switzerland with their players from Bern and Schaffhausen?

At first the national coach tried a lot, wanted to rest the ailing Knorr, trusted Luca Witzke, and also let Nils Lichtlein play. Knorr took over after just eleven minutes and things got a little better. Wolff's rate of 42 percent of balls defended prevented anything worse from happening at halftime.

But at 19:21 in the 38th minute, the brave and uninhibited Swiss looked like the winners against a flawed and poorly throwing German team. “It didn’t look like we were going to win for a long time,” Gislason said later, “but then Julian and Renars took responsibility and pushed through.”

Both were a typical case of “of all things”. Köster seems tired after a serious knee injury and bronchitis. Uscins wanted too much and only hit every other throw. It was then Knorr who drove the increasingly tired Swiss deep into their own defense and gave Köster space, which he converted into goals: “There were such big gaps, I had to get through them,” said Köster with a smile – knowing full well that he was in the game had interrupted the clear path to the gate in the first round like a shy jumping horse.

So on Friday evening in the Jutland heath it wasn't the walk we had hoped for with protection for those who were highly stressed. It wasn't until Timo Kastening's 30:27 in the 56th minute that the many German fans who had received reduced tickets for 70 kronor, which is the equivalent of just nine euros and a few cents (that's how much a small beer costs in Denmark), were told the pub): Get ready to cheer.

Andreas Wolff also had a few brief moments that looked like joy – after all, he was voted player of the game.

He then talked for a long time with Rune Dahmke, his friend on the team, a well-mannered mother-in-law's favorite who would never answer in interviews the way Wolff did. But he is appreciated by handball Germany for his actions. Not for his words.