Knorr said what everyone at the European and Olympic runners-up was thinking. Eight months before the gold mission at the home World Championship, Germany's handball team is now playing quite consistently at a high level and should be a strong medal contender—but they're not ready for the title yet. Still, Knorr emphasized, "we can't just bury our heads in the sand."
The two defeats (28-36, 29-31) against the Olympic, World, and European champions—who weren't even at full strength in the second game—also weighed on Gislason. Instead of heading into the nearly six-month international break with a psychologically important win, it was the eleventh straight defeat against their Nordic rivals.
The gap hasn't closed
Gislason saw "a lot of positives" in both matches. But the gap to the Danes "hasn't gotten any smaller at the moment," the national coach admitted, fully aware that he has few opportunities left for fine-tuning.
After the season finale with their clubs, the handball players will head into the summer break, with the next internationals not until autumn. On 5 November, Germany will face Belgium in the European Championship qualifiers at Berlin's Uber Arena, and the following weekend, they'll travel to Slovakia. "That's a very long time not to see the guys," said Gislason.
Denmark again and again
The drought against Denmark has now lasted ten years, and even in the noisy Lanxess Arena—which, with its 20,000 fans, will also host the medal matches at the World Championship—things didn't go their way on Sunday. Denmark was missing three key players: world handball player Mathias Gidsel, playmaker Rasmus Lauge, and defensive leader Magnus Saugstrup.
Problems converting chances, technical errors—even captain Johannes Golla didn't mince words in his analysis. The defense was a positive, said Golla, but: "We also have to admit that we didn't reach our best and, with this many mistakes, we can't compete with Denmark." Behind them, Germany is "in the chasing group with teams like France, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland."
While the national players are now entering the home stretch of the season with their clubs, Gislason is already looking ahead to Munich, where the World Championship groups will be drawn on 10 June. "I'm very curious to see who we'll get," said the Icelander. The good news: Denmark definitely won't be in their preliminary group.