Coach Christian Prokop job depends Austria: Vienna - Bob Hanning takes on players after the missed European Championship semi-finals. Indirectly, he places the fate of national coach Christian Prokop in their hands.

As late as Saturday evening, Bob Hanning didn't want to hear about a coaching discussion.

He sees "no reason" that Christian Prokop will be questioned, said the DHB vice president after the bitter 24:25 of the German handball players against Croatia (So Germany still comes to the semifinals).

A day later, however, Hanning let through that Prokop's future could very well depend on the outcome of the game against Austria on Monday (Germany - Austria from 8.30 p.m. in LIVETICKER).

"For German handball, it is vitally important to present yourself beyond the rest of the European Championship as we imagine," said the 51-year-old at SPORT1: "The objective is very clear that we will have the next two games in Vienna complete. "

Coach Christian Prokop job depends Austria

Hanning: "What does the team do with the coach?"

Hanning had already dropped a piquant sentence: "On Monday evening it will become clear: What is this team doing with their coach?"

A defeat against Austria, for which the chance for the qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Tokyo "is a matter of life or death in a sporting sense" (Hanning), the coaching discussion would automatically pick up speed. Austria is therefore "the best opponent to check all these questions."

The game against the host will "say a lot about the team and how we will deal with such a situation and whether we will be able to positively play a tournament to qualify for the Olympic Games."

Stephan shoots Prokop

As is well known, the "common team" also includes the trainer, who in doubt is the weakest link. According to Daniel Stephan, Prokop, whose contract runs until 2022, can no longer be held anyway.

"We have not taken a step forward since the 2019 World Cup, have overslept the preliminary round, that must not happen," said the world handball player from 1998 to SID and said "deficits in attack, the second wave does not work. It is all very sobering . "

Prokop is "not the right one", "has too little experience. There is still no concept against offensive cover, and the changes add to the uncertainty."

The goal is Olympic gold

The fact is: Germany once again played a big tournament under Prokop - it was its third - and again the sporting goal was missed. After ninth place at Prokop's failed EM premiere in 2018 and the ungrateful fourth place at the home World Cup a year ago, there is now a maximum of fifth place - a prerequisite for this is a victory against Austria.

In addition to the small goal of successfully completing the European Championship, the next big goal must not be missed again. It was "damn important for German handball" to secure the ticket for Tokyo at the qualification tournament in Berlin (April 16 to 19), said Hanning.

Especially since the official for these games had repeatedly expressed an ambitious wish: the gold medal.

Character test against Austria

Hanning and his fellow board members will ask themselves whether this task can still be mastered in the given constellation.

Maybe the character test on Monday will shed some light on this, the players can to a certain extent show that they want to continue working with Prokop. "We are at a point where we have to show that we are a team and stand together," said shooting star Timo Kastening to SPORT1.

If the German handball players against Austria and in the final main round game against the Czech Republic again present themselves as well as they did against Belarus and long stretches against Croatia, there will probably be another chance.