The old man in the gate is outstanding and doesn’t see the mission as a failure yet
World class in his 173rd international match: Johannes Bitter
Source: dpa
In the game against Norway, the German goalkeeper is the mainstay of his team. However, the 39-year-old Johannes Bitter cannot prevent the second bankruptcy at the European Handball Championship. “A few people score goals that weren’t planned,” he says of opponents Norway.
VJohannes Bitter celebrated his debut in the national team 20 years ago. On January 4th, 2002 he was in the German box for the first time against Switzerland in Balingen, since then he has seen several generations of handball players come and go. At the European Championships in Hungary and Slovakia, he stepped in again as a last resort: the old man in goal.
Bitter is now 39 years old, two weeks ago he became a father for the fourth time. But there was no reason for him not to help out when the call came from the German Handball Federation (DHB) last Monday evening. From Hamburg he flew to Vienna, and then on to Bratislava. It seemed to be a worthwhile business trip for the HSV goalkeeper.
In the first game, he made a significant contribution to Germany beating Poland 30:23 at the end of the preliminary round, and he was even the only keeper available in the camp of the Germans plagued by the corona virus. But then there were two defeats at the start of the main round. First, Bitter and Co. lost to defending champion Spain 23:29, then on Friday evening in Bratislava there was a bankruptcy against Norway. Even a very strong bitterness could not prevent the 23:28 (12:14).
As if he had never been away
The retired veteran, who was nominated due to the positive corona tests by Andreas Wolff and Till Klimpke and is now suddenly number one again, played against the Scandinavians from the start as if he had never been away. He ended up with a rate of 39 percent saved balls – a world class value. Still it wasn’t enough.
“They have phenomenal quality,” said the keeper afterwards about the opponent. “But we completely packed the front line from Norway, we were strong there, we had everything under control in the first half, we got one or two counterattacks too many. But everything ok. And then comes Norway’s second row and a few people score goals that weren’t planned. You have to say it honestly. We had problems with that and didn’t get back into the game.”
The half-left Erik Thorsteinsen Toft was part of the strong second row of the Norwegians. While Thorsteinsen Toft had seven goals, Sagosen only scored four.
Norway’s Erik Thorsteinsen Toft (right) scores one of his eight goals
Source: AFP
Despite the clear bankruptcy, Bitter was afterwards satisfied with the performance of the German selection. “You have to pay the team a huge compliment,” said the 2007 world champion. But we didn’t give up and fought for every goal until the last moment, because it can be important.”
In fact, the goal difference could still be decisive in the fight for the semi-finals. For that, the men of national coach Alfred Gislason need two wins on Sunday (6 p.m., ARD) against Sweden and on Tuesday (6 p.m., ZDF) against Russia. With then 6:4 points progress would still be possible.
Johannes Bitter (left) celebrates his own parade
Source: dpa
“I thought we played better today than against Spain,” Bitter said on Friday evening. He also did not want to quarrel after the failure of eleven teammates infected with Covid. “We won’t complain, keep working and try to improve in every game. We want the youngsters to gain experience here, for Julian Köster to go one-on-one here and then know how to do it, how to assert oneself next year.”
When Bitter celebrated his debut in the national team, Köster was one year old. The Gummersbach half-left still has a lot ahead of him. And an experienced adviser at his side at the European Championship: The game against Norway was Köster’s ninth international match, Bitter was in goal for the 173rd time.