A sporting encounter with the Sheep Islands always has a folkloric component.

Is there a hall

do you have handballs

Are you a full-time fisherman?

Alfred Gislason is not to be had for such jokes.

Of course he warned and listed where the Færøer handball players are under contract: in Iceland, Denmark, Sweden.

Even the currently best shooter in the European League comes from the windy islands in the North Atlantic – his name is Elias Ellefsen and he scores for Sävehof in Sweden.

So don't be arrogant when the national team plays in Kiel this Wednesday (6.15 p.m. on Sport1) and on Saturday (8 p.m. on zdf.de) in Tórshavn for participation in the World Cup in Poland and Sweden in early 2023.

Anything other than two clear victories in these World Cup play-offs would be a nasty surprise - the Færøers only became German opponents after the disqualification of the Belarusian handball players.

Gislason unhappy with Weber

As a national coach, you are dependent on knowledge given the few appointments with the elite players.

Gislason had drawn his conclusions from the days of the EM, which were shaped by Corona, and had come to a surprising result: when the Germans tested against Hungary in March (31:31, 30:29), Philipp Weber was missing.

The Magdeburg player was Gislason's number one playmaker in the three major tournaments.

Gislason had spoken strongly to him, trusted him, defended him against public criticism.

Until the EM.

After that, however, he had Luca Witzke from Leipzig and Juri Knorr from the Rhein-Neckar Löwen organize the German attacks.

And this time, too, Weber will be watching.

As an explanation, Gislason said briefly and dryly on Tuesday: "I wasn't very happy with his performance at the European Championships." Weber had taken responsibility in the seven games in Bratislava;

in his self-image he is a leader.

His hit rate of 39 percent was poor, the directing qualities in the main round moderate.

Admittedly, it was also a most thankless role to guide the constantly changing subordinates.

Gislason also emphasized two other things that speak against the 29-year-old from Magdeburg from his point of view: he mainly plays in the left backcourt at the club and is not a particularly experienced defender.

But then couldn't he have nominated him for half-left?

Weber had last convinced there for the SCM.

"We have too many on the left who are fighting for this position," replied the national coach.

He left open whether he had spoken to Weber.

All-rounders are in demand

Today's great playmakers like Jim Gottfridsson are all-rounders, and they want to be too.

There's hardly any time to change to the bench when the opponent is attacking, so directors with less defensive power are parked as far away as possible, where they can stay in the game but do little damage when defending.

The alternation of defence/attack has become unpopular with coaches.

The game is just too fast.

So what is needed is the universalist.

Ideally one that also brings mass and mobility to the rear so that the opponent does not immediately identify it as a weak point.

Weber has become second nature to the bank at both SC Magdeburg and DHB.

If it has to be and there is no time, he moves back to the outside.

Witzke and Knorr see Gislason ahead in this regard.

Two very different young playmakers aged 23 and 21: Witzke distributes the ball calmly and safely, reminiscent of Martin Strobel.

Knorr is considered highly talented and would have been at the European Championships in January if he had been vaccinated early.

He stands for creativity, for scoring, he is courageous and unpredictable, but on bad days he makes mistakes after mistakes.

Because they are so different, the two Gislason squads give an interesting touch - they are (still) far removed from the skills of the stars, and so you are right in the middle of the well-known discussion about the problem area of ​​German handball.

Gislason doesn't want to encourage her, acts pragmatically as usual.

He thinks a lot of Witzke: "He plays well in defense and drives the ball forward." The door is not closed for Weber, he said: "Philipp will definitely get the opportunity to play a role with us again." On Tuesday, however, it became very clear that Witzke and Knorr currently have the better cards in the middle of the backcourt.