Last act for the German handballers
It’s finally time to go home. Some German players have already left Slovakia. On Tuesday, the last match in the main round is still on the agenda before the remaining players will start their journey home. Alfred Gislason’s team still has to play once, but in the duel against Russia nothing is at stake. Both teams can no longer even reach the match for fifth place.
Of course you want to win every international match, but especially in this strange European Championship, even that doesn’t matter anymore. The bottom line is that there was simply nothing more in it for a team that was so battered. After a good preliminary round, the opponents in the main round were simply too strong to be able to compensate for a total of twelve cases of infection among the players alone.
But there are also positive aspects to this tournament. The German team should have grown together even more through the numerous setbacks. Maybe the DHB men will get the reward for this EURO at the next big tournaments. Because there is nothing left to play for on Tuesday, it is not easy to predict the outcome of the match between Germany and Russia.
Both teams want to say goodbye to Slovakia with a win, but at the end of the day that is meaningless. Whether the German men finish fourth or fifth in this group makes little difference.
Germany – Statistics & current form
On Sunday, numerous German players have already started their way home. In between, there was hope that there might be returnees to the team. After all, the post-nominated Hendrik Wagner was able to return to the plate after his isolation, but the game against Sweden showed that it actually makes no sense to come straight from the hotel room to the pitch.
The air is out
This is how the players will play the last game against the Russians, who put up a good fight in the main round but failed there due to a lack of coordination, but also due to strong opponents from Spain, Norway and Sweden. However, the performances were quite remarkable and the German team kept up for a long time before they had to admit defeat.
After three defeats in a row and no chance to win another game, the air might be out now. In addition, the batteries of the remaining German players are probably only running on reserve. Therefore, we are more inclined to play the odds on a win for the Sbornaja in the last main round match between Germany and Russia.
However, a victory for the German team would perhaps also be a conciliatory conclusion to this European Championship. Whatever the outcome of the last match. The German handball men can leave Slovakia with their heads held high. At least Alfred Gislason will take home with him the knowledge that they are a united bunch even in difficult situations.
The Germany squad:
Goal: Wolff, Birlehm, Klimpke, Bitter, Rebmann
Back: Köster, Weber, Ernst, Witzke, Heymann, Kühn, M’Bengue, Häfner, Steinert, Drux, Wiede, Schmidt, Wagner
Left wing: Schiller, Mertens, Dahmke
Right wing: Zerbe, Kastening, Zieker
Circle: Golla, Wienczek, Kohlbacher, Firnhaber
Coach: Gislason
Last matches of Germany:
European Championships Main Round Grp. 2
01/23 2022 – Germany 21 – 25 Sweden
01/21 2022 – Germany 23 – 28 Norway
01/20 2022 – Germany 23 – 29 Spain
European Championships Preliminary Round Grp. D
01/18 2022 – Poland 23 – 30 Germany
01/16 2022 – Germany 34 – 29 Austria
Russia – Statistics & current form
Even though the team of long-time Bundesliga coach Velimir Petkovic now has no chance of reaching the semi-finals or the match for fifth place, the Russians have shown that they are on their way back to the top of the world after long years of deprivation. Especially in the preliminary round, the Sbornaja made people sit up and take notice with their victory over Norway.
Without a win in the main round
In the main round, the Russian team also lacked a little bit of luck. Against European champions Spain they lost clearly, but against Sweden they had the chance to win the match until the end, but lost by one goal in the end. This meant that their chances of reaching the semi-finals were basically gone. The Sbornaja could still have had a minimal chance on Sunday with a victory over Poland.
However, the Russians only narrowly missed defeat against the Poles, who had been overtaxed in the main round up to this point. It was only in the last second that Kosorotov managed to equalise the score at 28:28. The red card for coach Velimir Petkovic shortly before the final siren showed how high the Sbornaja’s hopes still were.
On Tuesday, the Russians will probably not start quite as energetically. All in all, however, the Russian team can be very satisfied with its performance at the European Championship, even if it was not enough to win in the main round. Nevertheless, we can imagine predicting a success for the Sbornaja between Germany and Russia.
The Russia squad:
Goal: Grushko, Vereshchagin, Kireyev
Back: Vorobev, Kudinov, Zhitnikov, Santalov, Vinogradov, Dzemin, Kosorotov, Kiselev, Kotov, Ivanov
Left wing: Ostashchenko, Soroka
Right wing: Shishkaryov, Kornev, Demin
Circle: Ermakov, Vrachevich, Andreev
Coach: Petkovic
Last matches of Russia:
European Championships Main Round Grp. 2
01/23 2022 – Poland 29 – 29 Russia
01/21 2022 – Russia 25 – 26 Spain
01/20 2022 – Russia 23 – 29 Sweden
European Championships Preliminary Round Grp. F
01/17 2022 – Slovakia 27 – 36 Russia
01/15 2022 – Norway 22 – 23 Russia
Germany – Russia Direct comparison / H2H balance
If we include the games against the former Soviet Union, then Germany and the great power from Eastern Europe have played a handball game against each other around 100 times. There have been 49 duels against Russia to date. The direct comparison speaks in favour of the German team with 25:16 victories. Eight matches ended in a draw.
In the meantime, there have been no Russian victories in nine matches, although three of them ended in a draw. The last duel was three years ago. At the German home World Cup 2019, this encounter took place in the preliminary round. Timur Dibirov and Uwe Gensheimer in particular made their mark on this match with eight goals each. In the end, they parted with a 22:22 draw.
Germany – Russia Tip
No matter what the outcome of this match is on Tuesday. Both teams can basically be satisfied with the way the European Championship has gone. The Russians did better than they were perhaps given credit for and the German team was close to its maximum, given the difficult surrounding circumstances. But Alfred Gislason’s team in particular will not be unhappy that the European Championship will end for them on Tuesday.
Neither the Russian nor the German team were able to win in the main round. The semi-finals and the match for fifth place are out of reach. The winner will finish fourth in the group, the loser probably fifth.
However, the decimated German team will also try everything once again to leave Slovakia with at least a victory. We think it should be very close with that, though, even though Alfred Gislason’s team has shown great character. However, we have decided to play the betting odds on a Russian success between Germany and Russia.
