Handball icon Heiner Brand prepares the German national players for the European Championship semi-final on Friday evening (8:30 p.m./ZDF and Dyn) against world champions Denmark with a warning against premature complacency.
“The joy is there,” said Brand on Sky about making it into the medal round, “but on the other hand, in front of the home crowd, that was presented as a minimum goal. Nothing has been achieved yet.”
According to Germany’s former world champion coach, the performance of national goalkeeper Andreas Wolff in the duel with the Danes will be a decisive factor for success or the end of all title dreams again. “Andreas Wolff is the backbone, sensational, I’m counting on him against Denmark with a good defense. The fact that Wolff holds up outstandingly is the basis for a possible win against Denmark,” said Brand.
In addition, national coach Alfred Gislason’s team would have to “see that they are making few technical mistakes and that they are not making the Danes strong,” warned the 71-year-old: “Then anything is possible.” In addition to defense and goalkeeping, “exploiting opportunities and a dynamic game in order to pose problems for the Danish defense” are also important.
Brand summarized the hosts’ previous European Championship appearances in their hunt for their first title since European Championship gold eight years ago, including the “offensively catastrophic game” in the main round against Austria (22:22), as “changeable”. However, the Gummersbach native considers the 24:30 defeat at the end of the main round on Wednesday against Croatia to be “difficult to classify” given the circumstances.
For Brand, Denmark is “actually favored” against the German team, but the 1978 world champion values the home advantage with the “special atmosphere” in the Cologne Arena: “The arena puts the opponent under pressure and can of course also push the German team – in phases of weakness, but perhaps also in phases where things are going well, so that you can continue playing at this high level.”