Germany beat North Macedonia to book main round ticket

It was obvious right from the first minutes that Germany were the best team on the court. Thanks to a good defence, the hosts stole the momentum right from throw-off and never let it go. Pushed by a packed arena of 13,500 fans, they took a maximum advantage of 10 goals in the second half.

Germany now have four points and have booked their ticket to the main round, while North Macedonia are now out of the race. It remains to be seen how many points the Germans will take with them into the next round, as both France and Switzerland have the possibility to join them in Cologne.

GROUP A

North Macedonia vs Germany 25:34 (13:18)

• Germany took the upper hand right from throw-off, making the most of a couple of good defensive plays to take an early four-goal advantage on an empty goal
• the hosts did not take their foot off the pedal and kept on pushing, with Juri Knorr scoring seven in the first half alone. Helped by this performance, Germany took an advantage of seven goals at the 23rd minute
• North Macedonia kept on experiencing offensive problems in the second half, missing shots against David Späth, the German goalkeeper, who kept the lead to six goals
• despite Nenad Kosteski’s six goals, North Macedonia were never able to come back on the scoreboard, Germany taking an advantage of 10 goals a few times during the second half
• Germany’s Juri Knorr was elected Player of the Match after scoring 10 goals
• thanks to this win, Germany proceed to the main round while North Macedonia are now eliminated

Juri Knorr in the spotlight

If Wednesday’s game against Switzerland was all about Andreas Wolff’s crazy performance, this Sunday’s saw Juri Knorr step into the spotlight.

The German centre back, who had already netted six times against the Swiss team, added 10 more to his personal record. Seven of these goals were scored in the first half, during which Knorr pushed every ball to try to create as many easy situations as possible.

Photos © Kolektiff Images