Will Germany start the World Cup victorious?
The German footballers do not have good memories of a World Cup in connection with Qatar. Now it is up to the DHB men to open a new chapter of this combination. The 2023 Handball World Cup will take place in Sweden and Poland and unlike the Football World Cup, it is now a matter of finding the right tip in a direct duel between Germany and Qatar.
The bookmakers see the German team around their coach Alfred Gislason as clear favourites. However, the Qataris are not an easy opponent. The team from the desert state is, here at least we have an analogy to football, the reigning Asian champion. For the German team, a victory in this opening match should be of particular importance.
Besides Qatar, the other opponents are Serbia and Algeria. The Qataris are considered stronger than the North Africans and should therefore probably accompany the DHB men into the main round. With a win, the German team could take the first two points into the next round.
In addition, it would be important to start the World Championship with a victory in order to build up a broad chest and to go with self-confidence into the second group match on Sunday against the Serbs, who have to be regarded as the supposedly most difficult opponent in the preliminary round. But the signs are clearly pointing towards a German victory and if everything goes normally, the only question that should really be on the table is how high Alfred Gislason’s team will win on Friday.
Germany – Statistics & current form
The quarter-finals must be the minimum goal of the German team to put themselves in a good position with regard to the qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris. At the moment, i.e. before the first World Cup match, one should not expect more from the DHB men. The team is in a state of upheaval. Many stars of the last years are not part of the squad for the World Championships in Poland and Sweden.
Many well-known players not in the squad
Therefore, it is all the more important to get into the tournament well in order to be right there with fun and joy. The group phase, which is supposed to be easy, must be used to get into the swing of things and then be in the flow for the big matches. At least there are no major doubts on Friday. This is already shown in the match between Germany and Qatar by the low odds on a German victory.
However, the preparation for the World Cup was not quite optimal. Although the German team showed a decent performance twice in the two international matches against Iceland, they gave away the victory due to some lack of concentration in the first duel. At least they were able to take revenge one day later with a 33:31 victory. However, that was also the only victory for the German handball players in the last four international matches.
With Timo Kastening, Finn Lemke, Sebastian Heymann and Fabian Wieder, the national coach will not have a number of important players at his disposal for the World Cup who would have made the squad much stronger across the board. Hendrik Pekeler and Patrick Wienczek are also not available. With a full squad, Alfred Gislason could certainly have formulated the goals a little more offensively.
Predicted line-up of Germany:
Goal: Wolff, Birlehm
Back: Knorr, Witzke, Ernst, Köster, Weber, Drux, M’Bengue, Häfner, Steinert
Left wing: Dahmke, Mertens
Right wing: Groetzki
Circle: Golla, Kohlbacher
Coach: Gislason
Last matches of Germany:
Friendlies
08/01/2023 – Germany 33 – 31 Iceland
07/01/2023 – Germany 30 – 31 Iceland
EHF EURO Cup 2024
16/10/2022 – Spain 32 – 31 Germany
13/10/2022 – Germany 33 – 37 Sweden
World Championships Qualification Europe 2nd Round
17/04/2022 – Faroe Islands 27 – 33 Germany
Qatar – Statistics & current form
2015 World Handball Championship was held in Qatar. The Spanish coach Valero Rivera Lopez was allowed to put together a world selection at the time and yet the final appearance was surprising. Since then, the Qataris have been the best team in Asia, winning the Asian Championship five times in a row. Although it may not sound like it at first, Qatar is a tough task for the German men’s team.
Unbeaten for over a year
It was not only at the 2015 home World Cup that the Qataris used the big stage to draw attention to themselves. In 2017 and 2021, the Asians also reached the quarter-finals. The squad has changed only marginally since then. Therefore, a well-rehearsed team will be on the pitch on Friday for the World Cup opener, and one that should not be taken lightly under any circumstances.
The team of Valero Rivera Lopez, who also celebrated great successes as a club coach with FC Barcelona and led the Spaniards to the World Cup title in 2013, has now been unbeaten for a good year or eleven international matches. The last two defeats for the Asian champions came at the end of 2021 in two test matches against the strong Egyptians. All in all, we do not expect the Europeans to win too many games between Germany and Qatar.
There are, however, some question marks about the Qatar team. Cuban-born Frankis Carol Marzo is completely missing from the squad. He was the tournament’s top scorer at the last World Cup. Rafael Capote, who is considered a key player at the back, could also miss out after injuring himself in preparation. However, he will probably be back before the World Cup opener against Germany.
Predicted Qatar line-up:
Goal: Lepenica, Suljakovic
Backs: Saleh, Capote, Zakkar, Abdalla, Mallash, Heiba, Gacevic, Hassaballa
Left wing: Madadi, Alderi
Right wing: Abdelmageed, Memisevic, Berrached
Circle: Sami, Ben Ali, Jadaled
Coach: Valero Rivera
Last matches played by Qatar:
Friendlies
03/01/2023 – Qatar 30 – 28 Montenegro
World Championships Final Stage
28/01/2021 – Sweden 35 – 23 Qatar
World Championships Main Round Grp. 2
25/01/2021 – Argentina 25 – 26 Qatar
23/01/2021 – Qatar 28 – 23 Bahrain
22/01/2021 – Denmark 32 – 23 Qatar
Germany – Qatar Direct comparison / H2H balance
It was not until 2003 that the two selection teams from Germany and Qatar met for the first time directly. A total of only seven matches have been played to date. The direct comparison is only just in favour of Germany with 4:3 victories, but Germany has also suffered very heavy defeats against the Asians and usually had great problems against the Qataris.
In 2015, for example, Qatar beat Germany in the quarter-finals at their home World Cup and also eliminated the DHB men in the last 16 two years later at the World Cup in France. That was also the last duel between these two teams until today. In the meantime, the German team was able to take revenge in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Germany – Qatar Tip
We can already imagine the German team winning this first World Cup 2023 match, but we also don’t think it’s completely out of the question that the Qataris will come out on top against the German men for the third time in a row at a World Cup, after 2015 and 2017. The odds on a win for the Asian champions at least sound very promising at well over 7.00.
The preparation of the German team has shown that Alfred Gislason’s team does not yet have the form they would like. The Asians, on the other hand, have not lost for eleven international matches, even if many of the opponents have not been of the highest level.
The bottom line is that we think the German handballers will have to stretch themselves a lot in this match to get the first two points. Therefore, we would not bet on a too high handicap for the German team, rather the opposite. We have decided to place our betting odds on a Qatari handicap win (+4.5 goals) between Germany and Qatar
