He became World Champion as a player (1978) and as a coach (2007), and he’s a living handball legend in Germany: Heiner Brand has been national coach since 1997 and still has a contract until 2013 – then everything should be over. His team for the WCh in Sweden is hardly comparable to the team that became World Champion in 2007. Already focusing on the 2012 Olympics, Brand is forming a younger team. In this interview with www.ihf.info Brand comments on the WCh preparation, the personnel situation and the comparison with German football. In Sweden they will play in the most difficult Preliminary Round group with France, Spain, Egypt, Tunisia and Bahrain.

 

Heiner Brand: You shouldn’t only concentrate on rankings. At the last ECh we failed to come in seventh due to a single mistake against Czech Republic. In 2009 we were very close to reaching the semi-final. It’s the details that are decisive in WCh matches, as the ten best teams of the world are on a par with each other, except for the French who are in a class of their own. Therefore it’s very difficult to say where you stand prior to a WCh. Basically we can beat almost all teams of the world, but we can also lose against many of them. Therefore you shouldn’t put the general status of the team into question. There’s no reason to doubt this team.

 

Which “decisive details” do you mean?

Heiner Brand: First of all it’s the players who are at your disposal. We have already made the experience very often that players got injured shortly before or during a large event. Then it’s the form of the key players on the respective day in every match – and of course it’s also always a question of luck. We were in luck for example in 2007. For some years now we have been out of luck. So we should be in luck in Sweden again.

 

Heiner Brand: Lars Kaufmann was injured for a long time; something similar applies to Pascal Hens, and Stefan Kneer will not be able to play at the WCh. So three of our four alternatives for the left-back position are affected. I hope that nobody will get injured in the direct WCh preparation – even though I’m actually used to it. It makes no sense to talk about personnel, as we could be affected on very short notice. The only tournament without injured players was the ECh 2002. Also in 2007 when we celebrated our WCh title some players were missing.

 

Heiner Brand: Yes, of course. This team with many highly talented young players is simply amazing. The German football clubs are focusing on their own young talents again, and this pays off. I wish the situation was the same for handball, but this is what I’ve said for many years. It’s simply a problem of the clubs that they don’t offer many German talents any chances or only a few – but there are also exceptions in the Bundesliga. Maybe the clubs‘ philosophy will change one day.

 

Heiner Brand: We have almost one week less time, so we can certainly not practise many new techniques, but we have to concentrate on proven skills. Given the two international matches in Iceland and the related journey we’ll lose further training units. Everything has to happen in a more compact way this time. Nevertheless we’re not the only ones who face this problem. Actually all countries whose internationals play in the Bundesliga are affected. The situation is of course completely different for our first opponent Egypt; they have been preparing themselves since November. And France can in fact play without preparation, as they are so well attuned to each other.

 

Heiner Brand: The absence of Daniel Narcisse is certainly painful for the French, but they have outstanding players on all positions and can compensate this loss. They have the best individual players and their defence including goalkeeper Thierry Omeyer is the best of the world. However you shouldn‘t only focus on defence and back court when thinking about France; they also have excellent wing players. France is therefore my top favourite, also because they gained stability and self-confidence due to their many victories.

 

Heiner Brand: The Preliminary Round is of course very tough, it’s the most difficult group of all. Our aim in Sweden is to be among the seven best teams. Then we would be qualified for the Olympic qualification tournaments for London.