Handball: Brand believes in defending the title:”There’s no better way to be set up.”

Germany’s former national coach Heiner Brand (65) believes that German handball players are capable of defending their title:”Germany is certainly a good tip,”the 2007 World Cup coach told SID. Brand considers the squad, which is also very broadly composed, to be the team’s greatest strength from national coach Christian Prokop.

“You can’t do better than that,”said Brand:”You should have big goals. At least the German team will make it to the semi-finals. The preliminary round with the opponents Montenegro, Slovenia and Macedonia is “not an automatic runner-up. Hot-blooded spectators will try to exert influence. But we’re favourites.”

Brand is convinced of the qualities of coach Prokop, who is facing his first tournament as national coach,”He has shown in the Bundesliga that he is a good coach,”said the 65-year-old. But the European Championship will certainly be “a new experience and totally different task for him. and you have to make the right decisions in seconds.”

The controversial cadre nomination, in which Prokop won against the three European champions Finn Lemke, Fabian Wiede and Rune Dahmke, described Brand as “very courageous. But I know from my own experience that a trainer thinks about it a lot. He will have his ideas and believes that he can achieve them better with the nominated players,”said the Gummersbach player.