Flash quotes: 14 December
VIENNA - Comments from Denmark head coach Jesper Jensen, line player Kaja Kamp and right back Kristina Jørgensen (all DEN); Norway head coach Thorir Hergeirsson (ISL), left back Thale Rushfeldt Deila, line player Kari Brattset Dale and right wing Emilie Hovden (all NOR); France head coach Sebastien Gardillou and left back Orlane Kanor (both FRA); and Hungary centre back Nikolett Tóth and right wing Viktória Gyori-Lukács (both HUN) at media calls ahead of Sunday's final and bronze medal match.
DENMARK
Jesper Jensen (DEN) – head coach
On the final against Norway:
“All players know each other very well from inside out. They play with each other also in clubs and national team. They know each other's secrets. It's pretty fun to play against them.
“We have a good shot at winning it, but I think it's going to be exciting. We have been growing during this tournament and I think we are prepared for it. We have strong self confidence for playing the final.”
On the importance of winning:
“Winning gold would be huge. I think it would mean more to Danish people than it would for the Norwegians.”
Kaja Kamp (DEN) – line player
On the final against Norway:
“When we lost the game in the main round we definitely wanted to get a chance for revenge, hopefully in the final. Now we stayed here, they stayed here and we are ready to face them in the final. We are excited for the game.”
On Denmark's strengths:
“I hope our defence will be our strength against Norway. And running home. I think we put some layers on from the match we played against them at the start of main round. We also have some new players, Mie (Højlund) is also back from illness, so we have some more strength to play.”
On goalkeeper Anna Kristensen:
“Anna is a huge source of us being in the final. She has played amazing and wow, what a tournament she is doing. Now she will stand in front of the Norwegian goalkeepers that are also very good. But I think that, and she has shown, that she deserved to be in this stage. I'm just so proud of her, she's amazing.”
On Norway:
“They have been in this situation a lot and I think they have a lot of good, key players all over the place. They know when they have to be there mentally and you can see also in the semi-final yesterday, they really stepped up; also Henny (Reistad) did.
“They just have so much experience being in these matches. However, we are prepared to take the fight, so we will see if we can manage to keep them behind us and get in revenge for two years ago.”
Kristina Jørgensen (DEN) – right back
On the clash against Norway:
“All the teams who were in the semi-finals deserve to be in the final and I think it could be our dream final against any of those teams. But, of course, we have a lot of history against Norway. We are looking forward to playing against them.”
On the main round match against Norway:
“This will be completely new game. Every final is a game on its own and has own life. We need to be ready for everything and I think Norway have a lot of experience in these big matches.
“It's cool and we have also gained a lot of experience in the last five years. We need to believe in ourselves and we need to stick together, and go with our plan.”
On Norway:
“We'll see tomorrow if we win or not. We'll give everything we have and we try to give our best. There are no secrets between us. We played many times against each other in the last year. I think we both will have very good defence and a lot of counterattacks.”
NORWAY
Thorir Hergeirsson (ISL) – head coach, Norway
On the preparation for his last match as Norwegian head coach:
“You always have to prepare well. You can never take anything for granted. The day you think you know it all and think you can lay back and chill, you lose the match. You have to be humble, prepare well and see what they have done since our last match in the main round.
“And then we have to see what we can take from the semi-final. Then you have a better chance, but you never know – it is a final.”
On the expected keys for the final:
“First of all, we need a good defence and goalkeeping to be able to beat Denmark. And in attack, we have to play with discipline.”
On the mixture of experienced mothers and young players in the team:
“Handball is a sport decided by experience. You get better and better every year you play on top level. So it is important to give the possibility to play to those players who have families and children after they gave birth to their children. This experience is important, as those players even get better mentally and physically afterwards.
“And the young players come in, as we are starting to rebuild our team, especially in attack. We miss some central players such as (Stine) Oftedal, (Nora) Mørk, (Veronica) Kristiansen and (Vilde) Ingstad.
“I think this rebuilding is going quite well, though we have a little bit more ups and downs in our attack. We have a great system in educating young players in Norway with great methods to bring them in the women’s team.”
Thale Rushfeldt Deila (NOR) – left back
On the final against Denmark:
“The defence is going to be important. They showed yesterday that they play really good in defence, so setting the defence and running I think will be really important and being physical. It is always a really physical game against them, so we just have to be hard and give them the same back.”
Kari Brattset Dale (NOR) – line player
On the key to beating Denmark:
“The key will be our defence — that we can put up a strong front and stop them as best as possible. If we can manage to have some kind of defence like we had yesterday, I think we will have a good chance.”
On Norway’s chance for a 10th EHF EURO title:
“It would mean everything. This is why we're here. We want to make the dream come true. Have the gold. We will fight all we got for this.”
Emilie Hovden (NOR) – right wing
On rebuilding through the EURO and the positives she saw in the semi-final:
“We saw that our defence is really strong and I think that's important. We spoke about that the defence can still be the same after Stine (Oftedal) and Nora (Mørk) are not here.
“They play most in the attack and were a big part of the attack, but I feel we have players who stand up and show that they can bring things in the attack also. So that's really good to see, that the young players come in and take the responsibility.”
On Denmark:
“It's a strong team. Really strong. We played them many times and we know them so good and they know us also so good, so I think it will be a tough game, of course. It’s a final and we just need to see which team has the day the most. It will be very tough.”
On what is important tactically against Denmark:
“For us it's always the defence and to get speed in the game. We have a good speed in the team. Maybe they need, they want, to slow the game down. Maybe they will play seven-against-six like they did sometimes, and then to continue to bring speed into the game. And of course, the defence will be the key.”
FRANCE
Sebastien Gardillou (FRA) – head coach
On losing against Denmark:
“I know we were so close and only small details decided. They were stronger than us in one-against-one, and I have some regrets about the game.”
On playing for the bronze medal:
“I have experience of playing these matches and I hope I will help the players to win. However, I thought I failed them against Denmark.
“Still, I remember also how we lost against Montenegro two years ago and I hope we will do better this time. My players are professionals. I always say we need to be humble all the time. Maybe against Denmark we weren't.”
On Hungary:
“The winner will be the country who knows their opponent better. We know them and they know us from the previous match.
“I would like to change some small things that didn't work against Denmark because we were not on our level, we were just average. My mantra is to improve from game to game, and I want to do this again. I will try to convince my players to fight hard and bring this medal home.”
Orlane Kanor (FRA) – left back
On their chances of winning bronze:
“I'm really, really happy because we have a chance to win a medal. I think there are a lot of teams who would like to be in our place. This is good for us to have this achievement, and to have something good with coach Sebastien Gardillou. We want to win because we work a lot.”
On their EHF EURO performance:
“It's really good. I think we progress with each game and that is important for us and our coach. We knew it will be a bit different because Olivier (Krumbholz, their former coach) had some other way, now we have some new things. But everyone followed that and I think it was good, and we will give our opinion and we want to end with a win.”
On Hungary:
“It will be a tough game. We won five days ago, but tomorrow it will be a different game. Hungary are here after 12 years and they want to win a medal. It's incredible for them and it's an achievement.
“They are strong and want to show they are here. We need to be ready for this and we have to show our strength. Just like in the first game, we need to stop their attack and keep our defence strong.”
On losing the bronze medal match in 2022:
“We don't want that to repeat again. It was the same like this time – we beat Montenegro during the tournament, and then lost in the medal match. But I think we learned from it, and I hope this time we will earn the medal.”
HUNGARY
Nikolett Tóth (HUN) – centre back
On the feeling after the semi-final:
“I feel a little tired. It was hard to sleep at night. Actually, I can say that we're not sad. We want to move forward after this game because we have one game left and we can also achieve a big thing.
“It's an amazing thing that we can, we could, be here. We will fight for the third place, so we're just moving forward. We want to learn from our mistakes we made and we want to win against difference.”
On France:
“We played against them already. I think we have to pay attention for the pivot game because it's their strength. We have to prevent this.
“Everybody has to be focused. We have to fight as a team, and we have to put 100 per cent and then we will see at the end if it was enough or not. In attack, we have to be punctual (have good timing). We have to score because they are so fast and if we make a mistake in attack, they can run on us, and that's why we have to be so punctual.”
Viktória Gyori-Lukács (HUN) – right wing
On her first semi-final with the national team:
“It was amazing with our fans. They just follow us here and it was incredible. We are really happy to be here after 12 years. We have a chance to bring home a medal. We will give our best.”
On the tournament overall:
“It's just amazing. I think we just find something — some small piece we're looking for a lot of years. Now, the team spirit is amazing and I think we start to believe in ourselves. We start to believe we have a chance against anyone”
On France:
“The last game it was a little bit another game. Of course, we played for the first position in the group. But now it's going to be a different game because we will play for a medal. It's going to be a tough game. They have a really good team but I hope we can step up and do our best.”
