Philipp Weber has seen a lot with the national handball team.

Most of it, however, was not so pleasant, at least not in the bare result: Ninth European Championship in 2018, fifth in 2020, then the two disappointing tournaments of last year, twelfth at the World Cup, quarter-final at the Olympics, and in between, as the greatest personal low blow, the non-nomination for the home World Cup 2019.

Christian Kamp

Sports editor.

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You could also say: Weber only knows the national team as a source of disappointed expectations. But it gets exciting when you listen to Weber why that should change now of all times - at a tournament in which the selection of the German Handball Federation (DHB) goes with as much uncertainty as it has not for a long time, and before which nobody really expects anything from it , not even Bob Hanning. The answer is: Exactly because of that.

“The years before we were aspirant to make it to the semifinals,” said Weber on Sunday evening after the 35:34 against France, the last test before leaving for the European Championships in Slovakia and Hungary. “It's a little different now because we might be the lucky bag before this tournament. Nobody really knows where we stand. ”But Weber was also confident that there was more sweet than sour for the Germans in this bag. "You can tell," said Weber, "that the nine debutants created an extreme momentum, that the fire was kindled anew."

In this one can definitely see a statement in the debate about the cancellations of some established professionals, which is currently being carried out with passion in German handball - and in the subtext a small swipe at the role of those established professionals in past tournaments.

Perhaps, according to Weber's taste, they brought too much routine, too much saturation and maybe a little too much status thinking, which, incidentally, did not make his own role any easier for him: as a director who comes from a rather small club;

Weber was from Leipzig until last summer.

Free of expectations, with great vigor

Now the 29-year-old plays for SC Magdeburg, the powerful league leaders of the Bundesliga, and as director of the national team he is more important than ever. "He's the one who knows our system best," said national coach Alfred Gislason on Sunday. It was therefore more than a small moment of shock when Weber wanted his head through the French wall towards the end of the first half, but after a hard impact he went down painfully and grabbed the shoulder of the limb - a neuralgic point. But it turned out to be not that serious, and how little squeamish it is in handball also rhetorically, demonstrated co-trainer Erik Wudtke, who the next day at most half jokingly and at least very dryly said: “He might have played the ball outwards have to."

Even if it hurt: The German team could possibly even seriously benefit from Weber's mishap with a view to the EM, which begins on Friday with the game against Belarus. Because she was able to raise her wealth of experience in such a way that, if necessary, it can be done without one of the most experienced. The fact that Weber's deputy Luca Witzke steered the Germans in the clearly better second half in his fourth international match and then even delivered the punchline for the winning goal with the final siren, at least fitted pretty well into the picture.

The collective joy about it was the anticipated authentication of what Weber later said: The fire of which he spoke, the power that can arise from the new - in Wetzlar, against the Olympic champion, the Germans could feel it for the first time in person. “Games like this,” Weber said, “help us extremely on our way.” Witzke's case, too, was worth listening to more closely when he spoke of the team's desire to “play this tournament free” and the “fight for minutes and time on the record that helps the whole team ”.

Free of expectations, with great vigor and healthy competition, plus seeing and feeling a good dash of emotion like against France - that sounds promising as a formula for success.

The German handball players would not be the first team to breath a fresh spirit in a new composition and to surpass itself.

But it wouldn't be the first team to believe that, but then to be brought down to the ground by the tough realities - also called: sporting quality.

Some notes sounded a little brisk after the weekend.

This was drowned out by the faction of those who warned against overestimating a win in a friendly.

Even if it was, without question, a very sweet one.