The game against Montenegro (Saturday, 5.15 pm in the LIVETICKER) marks the start of Christian Prokop’s first tournament as national coach at the European Championships in Croatia. The newcomer is a detailed coach who leaves nothing to chance – and triggers a debate even before his debut on the big stage.
Many players were stunned, world handball player Daniel Stephan spoke of a “considerable risk”, in the social media many fans gave vent to their displeasure: Christian Prokop had already caused discussions before the European Championships with the non-nomination of Fabian Wiede and especially of defensive chief Finn Lemke.
Instead, national coach Maximilian Janke and Bastian Roscheck called two inexperienced players from his former club. Soon there were nonsensical conspiracy theories, the “Leipzig-Connection” could be heard.
“We’ve chosen 16 players, not four. These were hard choices. We have very good opportunities to react in the course of the tournament. The EM is long, so we will need several options. Despite all the disappointment of the currently not nominated players, it is important that the team spirit remains in the foreground,”said Prokop.
The 39-year-old is taking a risk, some say. The DHB coach shows great courage, the others think. The fact is: Prokop is the national coach and must therefore of course have sole decision-making power. He has to take the players with him who he thinks are the most suitable for his flexible system.
If a defensive player like Lemke, who was one of the guarantors for the title win in Poland, doesn’t fit into Prokop’s concept, you have to accept it that way. It makes little sense to criticize him in advance for putting together the squad. Billing – and Prokop knows this exactly – is finalised. It will have to be measured against the naked result.
So far, the man from Saxony-Anhalt cannot be accused of anything concrete. Since its enthronement in February 2017, Germany has finished the qualifying round of the European Championship without defeat, won a victory from two international matches against Spain’s major handball power and, most recently, won both final European Championship tests against Iceland in an impressive manner.
It was already clear in advance that any unpopular decision would initially trigger a headwind. After all, there had already been sceptical voices after the much criticised but ultimately successful search for a new national coach: Prokop lacks international experience as a player and coach. At the European Championships, the national coach of all people will be one of the few members of the DHB-Tross, who has not yet witnessed a single major tournament.
Convinced that Prokop will bring the European Championship well, he would only be convinced if he had experience, said world champion Christian “Blacky” Schwarzer in an interview with SPOX:”Christian Prokop has experience in the Bundesliga and has done an excellent job there with a young Leipzig team. However, an EM is something completely different than matches in the Bundesliga. The loads are much greater in all areas. Therefore it could be a small danger that he doesn’t know these international events. However, I think he’s done a good job so far.”
Prokop came in the jersey of GWD Minden and the HC Wuppertal to operations in the HBL, but he had to end his career due to several serious injuries at the age of 25 years. The broken knee in particular necessitated several operations, and Prokop was unable to even jog for more than ten years.
“It doesn’t matter whether I played 100 international matches or not. It all depends on whether I can make the right decision at the right moment,”said Bob Hanning. Prokop can make decisions, as he has already proven. Whether they are correct remains to be seen.
For the DHB vice-president and its president Andreas Michelmann, Prokop was the “desired solution”from the very beginning. And the management crew, which of course protects the coach against the first bad reviews, had to have a lot of patience before an execution could be announced.
It was not only because of the DHB that the search for a successor to Dagur Sigurdsson, who had left for Japan, was so tough. Prokop itself also played its part.
Born in Köthen, he had a hard time with his decision to leave the SC DHfK Leipzig. For weeks Prokop had “pondered, considered and thought”, as he himself admitted.
The reason: After his first coaching stations in Hildesheim, Braunschweig, Hannover-Anderten, Magdeburg II, Schwerin and Essen, Leipzig was the place where he achieved his breakthrough. The former backroom player led the Leipziger into the national league and established the club in the upper house in a rush speed.
Four years in Saxony had left their mark in the most positive sense. The team and the club leaders greatly appreciated Prokop. When his move to the DHB seemed to be a matter of time for the first time, the fans tried to get their coach to stay with a lot of sympathy in the form of posters. Prokop was so impressed by it that he would have actually canceled the DHB by a hair.
Ultimately, Germany’s coach of the year 2016 could not resist the opportunity to train the A-Team of the world’s largest handball federation, but nevertheless could not resist and signed a contract until 2022, without an exit clause. In addition, the DHB had to transfer a transfer fee to the SC DHfK.
One now has a “a young and modern trainer who lives the will to develop”, enthused Hanning. And this trainer obviously goes his way purposefully, bringing in new game ideas, sacrificing even well-tried personnel for it. And most of the international players, too, should there be no false impressions, are impressed by the work of the newcomer.
Prokop, who, like Sigurdsson, relies on co-trainer Alexander Haase, is described by the bank as “very meticulous”. One reason for this is his family background. Prokop’s father was a handball player and coach, his mother was a competitive gymnast. From a very young age, he was shown how much effort is needed to be successful in sport.
“He is a real handball teacher,”said goalkeeper Andreas Wolff, praising his coach, who has 14 years of trainer experience despite his young age. As with Sigurdsson, the German national team would have to be well prepared for every single opponent.
Prokop knows that a team’s attention to detail can be annoying in the long run. The father of two children, born on Christmas Eve 1978, tries to find a healthy balance between high demands and at the same time the necessary looseness in his work.
But he also says:”Under Dagur Sigurdsson, this huge sensation succeeded in 2016. With a young team that no one had on the bill. If we want to repeat this and establish German handball permanently among the world’s top players, it can only be done with hard work.”
The man with a master’s degree for teaching in elementary, secondary and secondary schools in sports and business is aware of the fact that he has to deliver in Croatia. If the semi-final does not come out at least, it will be difficult to sell the European Championship as a success in public.
The prerequisites for achieving good results are in place. In contrast to the previous major tournaments, bad luck has largely spared the Bad Boys, and the quality of the squad is correspondingly high. Also in the breadth, which Prokop used for surprises in the nomination.
“We don’t have this one world star in the squad who can decide games on his own,”says Prokop. On the decisive positions in handball, the DHB can only be found between the posts with Silvio Heinevetter and Andreas Wolff in the absolute world class,”we have to regulate everything else as a team”.
However, the national coach doesn’t mind that:”I would be sad if we were to get bogged down in egotism and small group work. We want to inspire the fans with an emotional appearance and a performance that comes from one piece of the team.”
It can’t hurt to summon the ghost of Poland even without Chief Bad-Boy Lemke. Because Prokop knows:”If we manage to maintain this hunger, we have a good chance of repeating this.”