Tournament newcomer Poland was able to keep up against its neighbor for long stretches.
The opening match of this year's Airport Trophy took place in Kloten's Ruebisbachhalle between the U19 national teams of Poland and Germany. It was the first participation of Poland in this tournament. Team Germany started the tournament unconcentrated and had to deal with several dropped balls in the starting phase. Poland took advantage of this opportunity and quickly pulled away. However, Germany came back to 4:5 thanks to a powerplay.
At the beginning, Poland repeatedly scored from the back, with Oliwier Kaminski hardly being able to be stopped in the right back. Germany had to take a team timeout after 8 minutes to reorganize. Thereupon, the game became much faster: Thanks to three counterattacks in short succession, Germany was able to catch up with Poland again.
Poland's lively playmaker, Marcin Peplinski, brought fresh ideas into the game and ensured the equalizer in the 21st minute. Germany distinguished itself in this phase mainly by their fast switching from defense to attack, which challenged Poland. However, Germany struggled to deal with the powerful Polish circle player and often only managed to solve the problem by committing fouls. Thanks to their agile defense, however, they mostly got through the periods when they were outnumbered without any harm. The score was 17:18 at halftime.
The second half started as the first half ended: with more time penalties for Germany, which they were able to use to their advantage. After the goalkeepers had no impact on the game in the first half, Germany's Julian Buchele began to excel. His quota in the end was a strong 40%.
The break in the game came after a time-out for Germany in the 40th minute. After that, it was much easier for them to create good chances. Led by left winger Marvin Siemer (5 goals in the second half), Germany was now able to extend the lead to 5 goals. The Polish team seemed to be running out of energy, and at times they even seemed to lack ideas against a German defense that had become excellent in the meantime.
In the final phase, Team Germany was no longer in any trouble and defended its lead in a commanding manner. In the end, Germany won 36:31, mainly due to the strong phase in the second half.
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