Handball-EM: Wolff-Interview:”The Spaniards are supposed to think about 2016″.

At the European Championships in Croatia, the showdown between Germany and Spain will take place (20.30 hrs in the LIVETICKER). With a win, the DHB team can book the ticket for the semi-finals in Zagreb.

Prior to the match, goalkeeper Andreas Wolff spoke in an interview about his performance against Spain in the final of 2016, the Bad Boys appearance, the problems of Uwe Gensheimer and Rune Dahmkes gigantic parade.

Question: Mr. Wolff, the semi-final final against Spain is perfect. Is it tingling yet?

Andreas Wolff: I’m a bit tired of the game. It’s about the semi-finals, we’re probably going to try hard. Let’s see how we feel, if we all slept well. (laughs) Fun aside: I’m of course hot as usual.

Question: Since the Czech Republic won against Macedonia on Tuesday, it is clear that a win against Spain will definitely be enough. Why didn’t the team watch the game in the hall?

Wolff: It was originally planned that we would go into the hall. But this was overthrown again, so that we watched the game on TV. It was just better to stay in the hotel to regenerate better. Every hour of rest that you can take with you at such a tournament is important.

Question: In 2016, you were the nightmare of the Spaniards in the European Championship final with your parades. The Iberians still seem to have that in mind. What role does the experience play in Poland with regard to the current game?

Wolff: It’s nice that the Spaniards are still thinking about it. That’s what I want them to do. But honestly, this is no longer an issue for us or for me personally. Nobody cares what happened two years ago anymore. For us it’s simply a matter of entering the semi-finals, so the situation is quite different. This will be a very, very difficult game against Spain.

Question: So you’re not looking at the game again to get a boost of motivation?

Wolff: I don’t need to look at that anymore, I know what happened back then. The decisive point is that the throwing pictures of the Spaniards are clearly different from those at that time, because many other players are there. That’s why it wouldn’t help me at all to watch the final once again.

Question: You are talking to the many new players in the squad. Does the DHB team have to prepare for a team that is even more powerful than Denmark?

Wolff: Does Daniel Sarmiento have more power than Rasmus Lye Schmidt? Does Joan Canellas have more power than Mikkel Hansen? I don’t think so. It will, of course, be a bit different than against Denmark. But like the Danes, the Spaniards also have a high individual quality. The players are without exception under contract with top European teams, are experienced and savvy.

Question: Due to the re-nominations of Finn Lemke and Rune Dahmke, ten European champions from 2016 are now in Croatia. How much of the bad boy feeling is currently in the troupe?

Wolff: Against Denmark, when we lost a little bit unhappily, you have already seen that we already have a better feeling. Now we are faced with another top team. We definitely have to let out some of that bad boy act to scare the Spaniards.

Question: How is the mood within the team so close to the showdown?

Wolff: Everyone is naturally a bit tense and nervous. After all, we all know what it’s about. At the same time, I can already say that we are showing a certain euphoria and anticipation for the game.

Question: Uwe Gensheimer did not convince against Denmark and was criticized by national coach Christian Prokop. How do you rate his role in the team?

Wolff: Uwe is our captain and the best left-winger in the world, even though Rune Dahmke played a superb game against Denmark. It was a game that wasn’t so good, it just happens. He’s under pressure like all of us, and he’s only human. We need his skills to survive against Spain. And even if it doesn’t work for him, we still have Rune. I don’t worry about the outer left position at all.

Speaking of Dahmke. What do you think of his incredible defensive action, including a spectacular jump against the Danes?

Wolff: He scored the same goalkeeper performance as Patrick Groetzki in the preliminary round. Both of them are now 100 percent defended, which is something to be proud of (laughs). (laughs) As I said before, I’m not surprised at all how good Rune was right in the tournament. He’s always been part of the crew, he was only gone for a moment. He’s one of us, so he didn’t need any time to get used to it.

Question: The criticism of the national coach runs through the entire tournament. What do you think of that?

Wolff: We are here to concentrate on this tournament. It is absolutely irrelevant to us as a team what is currently circulated in any newspapers or on the Internet. After the tournament there will be enough time to see what you can improve in the future. As long as we are in the tournament, it’s very simple: we do our job and you do your job.