Johannes Bitter celebrates spectacular comeback at European Handball Championship

Hurry? Alas no. That would be a downside. After corona cases eight and nine, German handball players are in complete emergency. Nothing clears the tricky and insane situation of the DHB team at EM other than the personal Johannes Bitter. Resignation from resignation, followed by appointment as an emergency replacement – and suddenly the number one and only goalkeeper shortly before the final opening round match on Tuesday evening just hours after arriving!

From the sofa, the 39-year-old said he had watched the first two German games “as a fan”, attracting the attention of the European Championship and in between posts. That too within a day. Madness. “If I look back over the last 12 to 15 hours, it’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done in a handball game,” said Bitter from HSV Hamburg, who returned to his 171 runs 20 years after making his debut in the DHB jersey. Created international competition.

Handball EM: Germany won against Poland 30:23

The opening round final against Poland was also crazy – in the best sense of the word! With a superb performance, the decomposed DHB beat their opponent 30:23 (15:12), who had won twice and taken two important points in the main round starting tomorrow, where European champions Spain await. Get started.

“A big compliment”, national coach Alfred Kislason praised his team after the surprise victory, especially at the height. “It was excellent in defense and offensive. Under these conditions, under this pressure, they performed well.

After all, two European Championship debutants. On his 32nd birthday, Christophe Steinert was the top DHB scorer with nine goals (six seven meters). Best Player 21 – year – old Julian Koster became the “Match of the Match” for second division club Commersback, boasting six stalls.

Bitter passed his cold start, was a consistent supporter and held what needed to take place. Keeper Zambavan was one of 14 players to face Poland in Bratislava on Tuesday night – including five post-selectors who arrived on the morning of the match day. That afternoon, goalkeeper Dill Klimpke and left-winger Marcel Schiller were isolated for lack of a positive PCR test, where seven players, including keeper Andreas Wolf, have already been ruled out.

Bitter is suddenly the only goalkeeper. “Of course you would not expect it to get worse,” Bitter explained to MOPO in the first reaction after his appointment on Tuesday morning. “Everything happened so quickly.” It was unknown at this time what he would do after leaving the post.

DHB Team: Jockey Bitter was suddenly the only goalkeeper

On Monday evening, Gislason called Bitter and asked for help from the 2.05-meter-tall man, who was replaced by Joel Birlem (father of Sunday) and Silvio Heinwetter (sick), who were on the DHB list as substitutes before him.

After the Tokyo Olympics, Bitter announced his retirement from the national team. Only at Kislason’s request, in the event of a complete shortage of staff at the DHP gate, did the senior open a back door. Then it got even worse.

Bitter is not an easy situation. He became a father two weeks ago, a few days before he was ready for the second half of the season with HSVH.

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“If you’re ready for an emergency and the national coach calls, you have to keep your word,” Bitter insists on the MOPO. “I want to help the team in this difficult situation and do everything I can.”

For the main round, the DHB has now nominated goalkeeper Daniel Repman (Koppingen) and left winger Patrick Geeker (Stuttgart). Apart from Spain, Germany will face Norway (Friday), Sweden (Sunday) and Russia (Tuesday).

The German team escaped from another big corona wave. Concerns remain. Everything depends on the results of the next test.