Germany’s men are one of my surprise packages of Paris 2024. The rejuvenated squad have brought an element of excitement into their solid core and there has been a huge evolution in their play in the six short months since the end of EHF EURO 2024.
One player who has catapulted himself into the limelight is Renārs Uščins. The right back was considered one for the future in the Germany squad during the home European Championship until a family matter forced Kai Häfner out of their semi-final against Denmark.
Uščins, who had a total of five goals from the previous six matches, was thrust into the starting lineup and was a standout performer, scoring 13 goals in the final weekend and he has carried that form into the Olympics.
Taking it all in
In their 33:31 win over Spain, the 22-year-old was one of the outstanding figures in attack, posting an impressive stat line of eight goals and seven assists.
“I think we stayed cool in the last 10 minutes after a little doubt midway through the second half. I was quite happy that we have the flow in attack and even though we couldn’t stabilise our defence in the first half, so the attack gave us a chance to win, then our defence was very strong and David Späth saved us in the end,” says Uščins, who gave an insight into his exception performances on his Olympic debut.
“I’m just trying to have fun and enjoy the atmosphere. If the first two or three actions go well for you, you have confidence and then it doesn’t matter if you have superstars playing in front of you and you can play your own game.
In the zone
“I think I forget sometimes that it’s something special to play here and play on the biggest stage. I’ve come straight out of the junior team and got a chance to play in the national team but it doesn’t worry me, I’m just out here playing.
With a quarter-final berth now confirmed, Germany will now look to power on in their final group game against Slovenia on Sunday at 14:00 CEST. A win and a first place finish could present the ironic reward of a quarter-final against hosts France, but the Hannover-Burgdorf clubman isn’t too concerned about that just yet.
“We don’t look to the other group, we just want to focus on winning our last match and take some confidence to the knockout rounds.”