It’s been said before but has to be said again: Mathias Gidsel and Simon Pytlick are unstoppable. Denmark defeated Germany 40–30 in the Olympic final rematch and the Danish super duo scored 18 goals.
In the Olympic final in 2024, Denmark destroyed Germany, winning 39–26. How was tonight’s game in Herning, the first match in the Main round for both teams, going to end? Well, with Denmark, and especially two players, looking unstoppable.
The first half was an offensive display by both teams. Germany played amazingly in attack, led by Julian Köster and Renärs Uscins, and scored 18 goals. The problem? Denmark played even better and scored 24 goals, after six goals by Mathias Gidsel and six by Simon Pytlick.
Germany had no way to stop the Danish duo. The defense had huge problems, especially in the middle where they were not compact enough, and Gidsel/Pytlick had a great time. In attack, everything looked great for the Germans, or at least it did when to individual-minded Juri Knorr was on the bench.
The first half was an amazing half of handball. A furious tempo and two great offensive teams but also a Danish team that was too great to handle for the Germans.
The second half? More of the same. Germany had a few minutes early in the half where it looked like they were going to make it a tight one. But then Knorr had a couple of doubtful decisions and Denmark could take control of the game once again.
Germany has a lot of great players to build on for the future: Julian Köster, Renärs Uscins, Luca Witzke, David Späth, and Marko Grgic are all players that are performing right now but also players that will be even better in the coming years. But it’s just as obvious that Germany is a mile away from Denmark’s quality at the moment.
Denmark won the game, 40–30, and is continuing to look so much better than every other team in the world.
The super duo? Gidsel ended up with ten goals and eleven assists. Pytlick? eight goals and three assists.