Handball dream dies

The winter of 2007 is becoming a distant, although cherished, memory for misty-eyed fans of the German handball team. Three years ago, Germany were on top of the world after Heiner Brand's team made the "winter fairy tale" come true, beating Poland 29-24 to win the handball World Cup title in front of a home crowd in Cologne.

Such was the euphoria generated by what was seen at the time as soccer's poor relation in terms of popularity that some - presumably those drunk on the heady success of being crowned World Champions - claimed that handball could even overtake football as Germany's most beloved sport.

That victory on a freezing February evening in 2007 was indeed thrilling and it added extra vigor to the feeling of optimism and togetherness which swept the country the previous summer when Germany hosted the soccer World Cup.

Fast forward to January 2010 and the feeling in German handball circles is far less optimistic.

Winter fairy tale turns into the stuff of nightmares

Since winning the 2007 World Championships, Germany have failed to make good on that "winter fairy tale" promise and have subsequently under-performed in the major tournaments. In 2008, they were ninth at the Beijing Olympic Games and finished without a medal in fourth place at the European Championships in the same year. Last year, they were deposed as World Champions, finishing fifth in the tournament in Croatia.

Now, at the 2010 European Championships in Austria, Heiner Brand and his players are looking to finish a hugely disappointing tournament by avoiding their worst ever result in the Euros. With one victory, one draw and three defeats, Germany need to beat the Czech Republic in their last game to finish higher than their ninth placed position in the 1994 and 2000 tournaments.

Brand, the man they were touting as the Franz Beckenbauer of German handball back in 2007, has had to rebuild his side of World Champions but despite experiencing the usual transitional period which follows the dismantling of any great but ageing team, the Germany coach has not managed to mold this bunch of players into a similar force.

"We have a lot of young players who are playing their first big tournament. We simply lack experience," Brand said after the 20:25 loss against Spain earlier this week, a defeat which left Germany facing embarrassment instead of glory. "We have the time and the chance to improve, as my players have to learn a lot. Currently we are not at the level of the top nations, but I hope this will change in the next years."

Germany looks towards the future - including a new coach?

Brand and his players, whose downgraded hopes of a fifth-place play-off have even been dashed by this year's poor performance, say they are now looking to the future and more success in the upcoming tournaments in 2011 and 2012.

The coach is already looking towards the Olympics in London in 2012 and will hope that some of the youngsters like Christoph Theuerkauf and Uwe Gensheimer, who have shown hints at potential world class performances in Austria, will push on in their development.

But questions are already beginning to surface about whether Brand is the man to bring glory back to the Germany team - questions which would have been considered heresy back in 2007. A hero as both a player and a coach, it is maybe unthinkable for some to remove Heiner Brand from his job leading the Germany team.

However, if there are still hugely talented players developing through the richly-rewarded and financially stable German handball league, and the coach cannot manage to form a winning team from them, maybe it is time for a change at the top.

Author: Nick Amies
Editor: Michael Lawton