Vlah: “I always seek perfection, but what matters is the team”

A great performance for RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2022/23 earned him a transfer to Aalborg Håndbold from the 2023/24 season and in just two years he has become one of the Slovenian leaders on the court. After making his major competition debut at the IHF Men's World Championship 2023, Vlah stepped on the Men's EHF EURO court for the first time in Germany.

“It would be hard for me to believe it if you asked me a few years back. Yet, I always dreamed about it. As we said, it is allowed to dream and if you don't dream about it, it can never happen. You need to believe. Things felt into the right place for me in the last couple of years,” says 26-year-old Vlah.

Slovenia are playing their 14th Men's EHF EURO, only missing out in 1998 and 2014. After a disappointing early elimination in 2022, with new head coach Uros Zorman they were determined to get to the main round, which they had done in every tournament played until 2022.

And they succeeded. Slovenia came to the main round in Hamburg with three straight wins and two important points, boosted with self-confidence.

“When we started the European championship with a win against the Faroe Islands, a game we knew would be tough, we got new confidence. We overran Poland and at the end of the group phase won against Norway in a very important game,” says Vlah.

“We entered the game against Norway without pressure. We already reached our first goal which was to get into the main round. A game against the Norwegians was an additional plus for us as we showed we can take points from the strong team,” he adds.

The show in Hamburg, however, did not start well for Slovenia. In a tough game against the reigning champions, Sweden, they were trailing by eight only to reduce the gap to six (22:28) with the final whistle.

“We gave all our effort in that game and it felt like we were exhausted after that game. Maybe that was also the reason why we couldn't fight against Sweden at the start of the main round. We don't have a wide squad as they do and we are not able to make rotation every 15 minutes. However, we are not the only ones, this is not an excuse,” Vlah says.

“Our start to the game against Sweden was completely different compared to the game against Norway. We were forcing a one-on-one duel where Sweden have the upper hand, that is something we need to change in the next games,” says the Slovenian top scorer.

Despite the defeat, Vlah once more delivered for his team, netting seven times, becoming his team's top player for the third time.

“My performance, for now, is good, but at the same time, I am never satisfied with how I play. I always see where I can progress, what I can do better, and what mistakes I need to bring to the minimum and that is driving me forward. I always seek perfection, but what matters is the team and our winning. It is not important if I score one goal or ten, will I play 60 minutes or I will sit on the bench, the most important is to win games with the team,” shares Vlah.

After losing points to Sweden, Slovenia seek a return to their winning ways – but they will have to stop the young and courageous Portuguese side that shocked Norway on Wednesday with their running and speed.

“We need to prepare for all the running. The main round in Hamburg is very strong, maybe even stronger than the one in Cologne. I have a feeling almost all teams are playing fast-paced modern handball and everyone can beat everyone. Maybe Denmark is one step in front of the rest of us with a wide squad and high tempo all 60 minutes,” says Vlah who also added 12 assists to his overall statistics.

Ahead of the start of the main round, head coach Uros Zorman said his players are allowed to dream. But what are they dreaming about?

“To be honest, we said we would focus game by game. So, I would say we are dreaming about every game and winning it. That is something that gives us energy and confidence to play at a high level. We are not the team that can think of five games in advance, we never know what can happen and we need to enter every game at 150 per cent. 100 per cent is just not good enough,” says Vlah.

The Slovenian performance may also be impacted from missing a few players who are usually the main force of the team. Blaz Janc, Domen Makuc, Rok Ovnicek and Matej Gaber are missing out on the EHF EURO due to injuries.

“You can feel we are missing them. Ovnicek's injury just before travelling to Germany really shook us. Maybe it would be a lot easier with them, but still, we can't complain. We need to push harder,” adds Vlah.

Ahead of the game against Portugal on Friday, in what could be a crucial game for the train ticket to Cologne, the producer of 26 Slovenian goals in four games gave a grade for their overall performance.

“From one to 10, I would give us a solid seven until now. But one thing we have at 10 is the atmosphere in the team. It would be great to reach Cologne and to make a great atmosphere in LANXESS arena,” concludes Vlah.

Photos © Kolektiff Images