Handball-EM: Rule chaos, Balkan bullies and the cool Tobi

The dramatic 25:25 of the German national team against Slovenia is making waves. The World Cup third of 2017 is protesting against the score, coach Veselin Vujovic is once again shaking his head. Meanwhile, the DHB team celebrates Tobias Reichmann.

Patrick Wiencek was very disappointed, Christian Prokop congratulated the opposing team of coaches and coaches. The time was up, Slovenia had won the game with 25:24 – at least everyone thought. All except Silvio Heinevetter.

The goalkeeper headed wildly for Mindauga’s Gatelis and Vaidas Mazeika. It seemed, at least, that the man from the Füchsen Berlin drew the Lithuanian referees’ attention to a violation of the rules. The Slovenians did not keep enough distance to the German throw-off, which is to be punished in the last 30 seconds with a red card and seven meters.

Now a unique drama began in handball to this extent. The impartial people watched the scene for minutes in a repetition on a screen:”Waiting for the decision for so long was a terrible situation for everyone involved. I thought that there must be a seven-metre rule, but I wasn’t sure whether it would be punished in this situation,”Uwe Gensheimer said later.

It took a long time for Gatelis and Mazeika to decide on red and seven meters. Tobias Reichmann, who had been holding the ball in his hands for the whole waiting time, stepped up and turned it into an ice-cold ball.

“I first had another corner in my head, but then I changed my mind,”explained the right-wing outsider afterwards. The praise of the colleagues was correspondingly enthusiastic.

“We took a quick look, Tobi grabbed the ball and then had the balls to sink the thing,”said Gensheimer. The captain is actually the seven-meter marksman number one in the German team, but had already failed three times during the game.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to throw the seven-meter,”DHB Vice President Bob Hanning acknowledged. And the national coach added:”I am overjoyed that Tobi has such a nerve strength. He’s a man for those special moments, he proved it. in spite of the show that was previously held at Tor.”

Prokop alluded to the behaviour of Slovenia coach Veselin Vujovic. Immediately after the referee’s decision, he was completely freaked out and had just scored a goal.

“I don’t know these new rules”, the Serbian said on ARD television:”In the last two seconds, if you don’t stand three metres away from the starting point, there are seven metres. A new rule. But for the first time in history we have this new rule. Congratulations to the German team, it’s a good team. I wish them all the best. But I think we’re the winners.”

It was by no means the first time that Vujovic, always wildly gesticulating, caused a stir with his curious performances. As a player, the Montenegrin player was suspended for nine months after a mass brawl during a league match.

As coach of Ciudad Real, the 56-year-old crossed his knees in the final of the 2002 Champions League against SG Flensburg-Handewitt left-winger Lars Christiansen and then struck back home player Lars Krogh Jeppesen. For that, he had a ten-month lockdown.

Six years later, Vujovic was even taken out of circulation for a year. In his club Vardar Skopje’s match against cadets Schaffhausen, the bully from the Balkans had run out of steam and got caught up with his players.

Now the next questionable appearance of the coach could be experienced in the Arena Zagreb. Even if it didn’t end up in beating scenes.

In any case, the Slovenians protested against the score after the draw against Germany. A decision as to whether there may even be a repeat match will have to be made by the EHF Disciplinary Commission on Tuesday until 12 noon.

The fact is that opinions differ as to whether the Lithuanian referees were right or wrong:”The decision was a clear one, three men were in the selection circle,”Reichmann said.

Former German referee Frank Wenz, on the other hand, came to Sky’s conclusion that the game should have to be repeated. The highly complicated rules in this case seem to allow a different conclusion under certain conditions. For example, if the action of Paul Drux is considered a valid goal throwing situation.

The referees took advantage of the opportunity to provide video evidence and scrutinised the last few seconds in depth. Your final decision is in line with the rules. We understand the sporting disappointment of our opponent because of the dramatic end of the game, but we are calmly looking forward to a protest from the Slovenian delegation,”the DHB announced.

Until then, the German team will have to deal with the content of their performance against Slovenia. In the first 30 minutes, in which Germany stumbled after a six-goal gap at times, the goalkeepers’ attack, defence and virtually nothing fit.

“We did not implement what we had planned in the first half. Slovenia has impressed us with its agility and hardness. Miha Zarabec played us dizzy,”admitted the national coach. Hanning also admitted to having “escaped with two blue eyes”.

As a fundamentally bad game, however, neither the coach nor DHB vice president wanted to classify the second appearance at this European championship after the victory against Montenegro. While Hanning emphasized that the team had not yet reached the end of its development stage, Prokop also emphasized the positive aspect.

“Despite the five-goal backlog, we’ve come back to the break in this atmosphere. But we also know that in this European Championship, where the differences in performance are so small, it is crucial to play consistently at a high level. We didn’t achieve that today,”said the 39-year-old.

On Wednesday, Germany will face Macedonia (18.15 hrs in the LIVETICKER) with a final. In order to start the main round with three points and thus have a good starting position with a view to entering the semi-finals, a victory against Kiril Lazarov & Co. Duty.