Perfect start for new coaches in EHF EURO 2028 Qualifiers
Round 1 of the Men’s EHF EURO 2028 Qualifiers was completed on Thursday with home victories in all matches. While Serbia took a 21-goal win over Estonia, elsewhere the margins were tighter. Notably, Italy beat Slovakia 34:32 in an important first step in their campaign.
The only thing we could have done better is the finishing, we led by four at half-time but it could have been at least eight. The defence however was really good, but the offense was a bit stagnant at the start before we got into a better flow in the end.
The Netherlands were much better than us and they had more speed in the attack. We're missing some players, so we have to struggle with our attacks.
We played a strong first half, and then the key was to come out after the break and deliver the same level in the second. We didn’t want to let them back into the game. We needed to kill off any momentum they might get and keep pushing at the same pace as we did in the first half. I think we executed that perfectly.
Unfortunately, we were unable to get the result we wanted, but there are still many positive aspects we can take from this match. We knew it would be a tough challenge, especially with some important players missing from the squad. We have to learn from this experience, keep working hard and focus on the next match.
We had only worked only a few days before the match, but the players were fully disciplined and motivated today and we could win with this margin. However, our main goal was only to win the match somehow, so I am happy and proud now. We had a few mistakes so we can improve, but it was a great start.
Hungary played much better today than us, and their victory is well-deserved. Our defence was much more weaker then we hoped and what we expected and László Bartucz was also fantastic in the Hungarian goal.
It is never easy when you don't have many training sessions to prepare the match, but as we said in the dressing room, winning is easy, but it is really difficult to stay on top. Today I think we managed to do it.
It was side by side and the cause of the match was that we did nine technical fouls. We have to do these things better and maybe then it will go better for us for next matches.
We conceded too many goals, among them were some really strange goals. But in general, the final result is OK for us, as we improved after the break.
We showed a great performance, but of course everybody knows how strong Germany are. We missed some shots and conceded a lot of fast-break goals, this was the reason for the clear result in the end. But we showed our strength, this was a good sign for us.
I’m pretty pleased today. A lot of what we wanted to do in defence and attack worked well. But as always, there are things we want to improve. But this was the first time we met since May so from that aspect I am happy with the start of the qualification campaign.
We lost by nine goals, and the truth is that it leaves us with mixed feelings. We were playing against a great team, one of the top five teams in the world. We went toe-to-toe with them for a significant part of the match and remained competitive. We will continue fighting for qualification.
