Two of the chasing pack for medals at Paris 2024 clashed on the opening evening of men’s competition, with Germany scoring their first win over Sweden in nine games and eight years. But the real story behind this 30:27 scoreline lies in the first half.
Andreas Wolff and Andreas Palicka have the ability to produce sublime performances at this level. We’ve seen it time and time again but to see both do it at the same time was truly magnificent.
Among the 28 players at Arena Sud Paris, only two mattered in the first half, dominating the court and drawing admiration for their swathe of saves in two distinctly different styles.
Wolff’s massive frame looked larger with every ball he swatted away, making nine first-half saves at 47%. Palicka displayed his array of martial arts-inspired moves, defying belief and occasionally gravity to produce ten stops at 45%.
You flinch, you lose
It was never going to continue in quite the same fashion in the second half, so the questions were who could keep it going the longest and which supporting cast would deliver in the second half.
Sweden flinched first and despite three more saves, Palicka got the hook on the 45-minute mark. Tobias Thulin came on and made a save immediately, but it ultimately proved to be the wrong decision as he made just one more.
Wolff was going nowhere, however, and while his stats were not as impressive in the second act, his aura forced Sweden to abandon any concept of long-range shooting and engage the German defence at close quarters – it did not work.
This was by no means a pretty encounter, not that this matters one bit to Germany, who ground out the 30:27 victory through relentless passes to the line and forcing turnovers in defence.
Renārs Uščins proved himself ready to drive this young back court forward and an early red card for Juri Knorr proved to make little difference for Germany.
Germany end a painful winless run against the Swedes, a bright start to what will be a dogged and hard-fought Group A.