The opening Tokyo Handball Qualification 2020 – Men's Tournament 3 match between Germany and Sweden was exciting until the end. While Germany had the upper hand in the first half, the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship silver-medallists turned the match around and looked like they were on the winner’s road until the hosts bounced back in the last minutes with left wing Marcel Schiller scoring the equaliser with only seconds remaining.   

TOURNAMENT 3
Germany vs Sweden 25:25 (14:13)

The German team started with the trio from THW Kiel Hendrik Pekeler, Patrick Wiencek and Steffen Weinhold in defence and it took only nine minutes for all three of them to score, giving the Olympic bronze-medallists from Rio 2016 an early lead. 

Swedish line player Max Darj, who missed the EHF EURO 2022 qualification match against Montenegro three days ago, had his saying when he netted a triple strike to level at 5:5 in the 10th minute. Both teams showed a very focused performance with little room left for mistakes. 

Like in their 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship opening match, Alfred Gislason once more began with Johannes Bitter and Silvio Heinevetter in the goal. Bitter, who started in the first half, had his first crucial save in the 24th minute when he stopped a fast break from Albin Lagergren, securing the 12:11 lead. 

Right back Kai Häfner increased the lead to 13:11, followed by a double strike from Pettersson, first from line player Fredric and then from his namesake Daniel to tie the match at 13:13 again. With only four second left on the clock, German captain Uwe Gensheimer scored the 14:13 lead before half-time. 

“We started very badly into the second half. We were taking shots and made decisions which we shouldn’t have done while Sweden played a very good defence with a good goalkeeper,” commentated Gislason on the opening minutes of the second half.

After a nervous start from both sides and Heinevetter’s first save against Niclas Eckberg from the line, Sweden took control of the match thanks to Andreas Palicka and Lagergren. 

Palicka ended the first half with only five saves. He just needed five minutes into the second half for another five saves, ending on a 36 per cent save rate. While Palicka and his defence kept Germany from scoring goals, Lagergren started a firework in attack, scoring the first four out of five goals for a 18:16 lead. 

On the other side, Germany had a seven-minute span without a goal to start the second half. Eventually, right wing Timo Kastening ended the drought, scoring the two goals for his team, followed by two penalty shots from left wing Marcel Schiller.  

However, the Nordic side remained superior. Right back Lukas Persson picked up where Lagergren left off: scoring goals. An empty-goal score from Eckberg in the 48th minute marked the highest lead for Sweden at 23:19. 

Slow and steady, the hosts recovered and fought their way back into the game with four minutes left, Schiller closed the gap down to one. In the last minute, Germany went all in, playing seven against six. Their courage was rewarded when Schiller scored his fifth goal at 25:25. 

“At the end, Bitter made two important saves and Schiller did his job good. I am satisfied with this point. I don’t want to say that we lost two points because Germany is a really good team,” said Palicka after the match. 

Photo: Marco Wolf/DHB