Less than 60 days ago Austria nearly pulled off a shock European Championship win against host nation Germany, drawing 22:22 in their main round clash.

But in this winner-takes-all clash for the final Paris 2024 Olympic qualification spot from Hanover, the host nation built a three-goal half-time lead and ensured their opponents could not come back in the second period.

Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament 2 – Hanover (Germany)
Austria vs Germany 31:34 (15:18)

Just after the pre-match formalities had completed, Germany coach Alfred Gislason paced towards the edge of the court and back, speaking under his breath, deep in thought, before returning to the bench and having one last word with the Hanover-based Renars Uscins.

It was to be the beginning of an extreme 60 minutes of emotion for the Icelandic coach in charge of Germany – by the end of the hour he would either have a new contract until 2027 and an Olympic Games spot, or he would be looking for a new job.

But it was Uscins – the 21-year-old left-hander – who Gislason would be joking with at the end with Paris 2024 qualification sealed. 

The Icelander had named a squad featuring five who did not play in that EURO match, while his opposite number Ales Pajovic had four new names to his squad from January.

In the tunnel before the match, Austria had been noisy, full of energy and hi-fiving and generally motivating each other, while the German squad stood relatively still and focused, nervous maybe.

And that showed in the opening moments as, again, Germany started slow, turning over the ball with their first possession and finding themselves 2:0 down.

But Andreas Wolff in the German goal had other thoughts, helping his side to a 3:2 lead as the Danish referees reminded Tobias Wagner in attack and Johannes Golla in defence for Austria and Germany respectively of their responsibilities to fair play.

On the 15-minute mark Wolff saved inadvertently with his head from Janko Bozovic and the 10,099 sell-out crowd showed their appreciation for the Kielce shot-stopper, chanting ‘Andi, Andi’ around the TAG-Arena, yet again the big personality had showed his worth to his side.

Moments later, and maybe not be coincidence, it looked like the fluidity of the German side had returned as Juri Knorr set in motion an in-flight to Lukas Mertens who laid the ball up for Uscins to smash home, prompting wild celebrations, tinged with a bit of relief no doubt from all of those rooting for Germany.

But Austria came back again, Robert Weber scoring from inside their own half as Germany failed to reset after their special strike.

Such was the prize at stake it was inevitable that passions reached boiling point, four two-minute suspensions were already on the clock by the 20th minute, but Germany were warming up and Lukas Zerbe’s two strikes in a row saw the first three-goal lead for the hosts (13:10, 21st minute) and that would be the gap the Germans needed to – eventually – see it through.

An Austrian time out swiftly followed and it seemed to do the trick as the ever-impressive Nikola Bilyk and his repertoire of shots and assists were having an effect, his long-range missile bringing his side back to within one (12:13, 23rd).

The luck was not Austria’s side though as yet another Bilyk assist saw Sebastian Frimmel hit the post and Uscins restored the lead to three again (12:15). 

Germany’s shooting was paying dividends at this point with an 89% hit rate (16/18), compared to that of 62% (13/21) from Austria, with Leon Bergmann in goal managing just one save at this point.

Uscins made it five (13:18) after another Bilyk assist was blocked, but Austria pulled it back to three with a two-goal run, imploring their fans to back them even more as they went into the break three down (15:18).

By the 43rd minute the lead had expanded to five (26:21), but Austria were not beaten and kept fighting, buoyed on by their supporters, coming within two – and nearly within one on a number of occasions.

The host nation took their third and final timeout with 57:40 on the clock, 31:29 ahead, hoping to make it three again as Austria put on the full court press but Knorr and Uscins failed to connect, but a failed pass attempt from Boris Zivkovic was punished by Knorr to make it three again (29:32) with less than 90 seconds remaining. 

The momentum was now with Germany and in what was sure to have been in his dreams ahead of this tournament, it was left to Uscins to smash home Germany’s 34th goal and seal the Paris ticket.

With their qualification, Germany will have been represented at all but one of the 15 editions of the men’s handball at the Olympic Games since 1936, only missing London 2012.

hummel Player of the Match: Renars Uscins (Germany)