German squad for start of EHF EURO 2014 qualification announced

It was the most severe and most tragic injury during the Men’s EHF EURO in Serbia in January this year: Two minutes before the end of the decisive final Main Round match against Poland,

German playmaker Michael Haaß was accidently hit by falling Polish player Krzystof Lijewski, who had been lifted clean into the air by German wing player Dominik Klein.

Lijewski fell on top of Haaß who subsequently broke his ankle and needed to undergo a surgery.

Finally Germany lost 33:32, missed the semi-final and the qualification for the 2012 Olympic Games – and Haaß was out for months.

Now for the start of the qualification matches for the EHF EURO 2014 in Denmark, when Germany first host the surprise team of Montenegro on 1 November and then have an away match against Israel on 4 November, Haaß is back in the national team.

“He still is not on his highest level, but I hope that he will become a staple very soon,” said German head coach Martin Heuberger, when announcing the squad for the first two qualification matches.

Besides Haaß, right wing Patrick Groetzki is back after a long-term knee injury and - like his Rhein Neckar Löwen teammates Uwe Gensheimer and Oliver Roggisch - he is looking forward the 'home match with the national team' in the SAP Arena in Mannheim.

“He progressed quicker than expected after his injury and in my opinion he will be a key player before too long,” Heuberger praised the former junior world champion.

After Germany had won their respective qualification groups for the EHF EURO events in 2010 and 2012, the head coach hopes that this streak will continue on the way to Denmark.

“Those two duels are trend-setting for us. We want to win against Montenegro and Israel and we need to beat them to gain confidence not only for the upcoming EHF EURO qualification matches, but for the World Championship in Spain, too.”

But Heuberger especially underlined the potential threat Montenegro pose: “Like every team from former Yugoslavia they are dangerous. And they have proven their strength by eliminating Sweden in the World Championship qualification. We have to be cautious.”

The only key player who will miss both EHF EURO qualification matches is Holger Glandorf from VELUX EHF Champions League participant SG Flensburg-Handewitt.

After being out for some month due to an injury, Glandorf told Heuberger that he does not feel fit enough – physically and mentally – for those duels.

“He wants and he needs to recover,” Heuberger said.

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The German squad for the EHF EURO qualification matches against Montenegro (1 November) and in Israel (4 November):
Goal: Silvio Heinevetter (Füchse Berlin, 79 international matches/0 goals), Carsten Lichtlein (TBV Lemgo, 154/1), Martin Ziemer (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf, 9/-)
Field: Uwe Gensheimer (Rhein-Neckar Löwen, 77/286), Oliver Roggisch (Rhein-Neckar Löwen, 178/35), Michael Müller (HSG Wetzlar, 53/120), Patrick Groetzki (Rhein-Neckar Löwen, 38/80), Patrick Wiencek (THW Kiel, 25/32), Sven-Sören Christophersen (Füchse Berlin, 78/128), Felix Danner (MT Melsungen, 4/6), Markus Richwien (Füchse Berlin, 15/33), Dominik Klein (THW Kiel, 151/286), Lars Kaufmann (SG Flensburg-Handewitt, 133/324), Steffen Weinhold (SG Flensburg-Handewitt, 29/50), Stefan Kneer (SC Magdeburg, 23/37), Michael Haaß (Frisch Auf Göppingen, 93/138), Martin Strobel (TBV Lemgo, 64/76), Adrian Pfahl (VfL Gummersbach, 40/113)