Croatian handball players opened the second round of the European Championship with a 30:29 victory against Iceland in the first game of Group II and thus took a big step towards the semi-finals of the tournament.
Before the start of the tournament, Iceland was declared the favorite to reach the semi-finals of the Euro along with Sweden from the “Croatian” part of the skeleton.
Denis Špoljarić, Dagur Sigurdsson’s assistant coach commented on the handball player’s great victory over Iceland. In an interview with RTL Sport, he expressed satisfaction with the game and combativeness, but also warned about problems with injuries and a busy competition schedule. A great game, a fight until the last minute, they were constantly blowing our necks. I congratulate the boys on their fighting spirit, they did everything we agreed on. We didn’t lose balls in attack, returning to defense was good. We have two injuries, we don’t know what happened to them, the examinations are in the morning. We have replacements if he can’t make it, said Špoljarić.
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In a good mood, he joked about the coach, Icelander Dagur Sigurðsson. Overjoyed. After this he probably has no right to go to Iceland for two years, but it can be with us, he added.
Croatia’s next opponent is Switzerland, who drew with Hungary. They led the whole game against Hungary, in the end it was a draw, which suits us. We played with them recently, they have two or three new players, they have Portner as a goalkeeper. Great team. When we analyzed them, we said that they could be a surprise. We will watch more videos and prepare tactics, Špoljarić announced.
He specifically looked back to the EHF scheduleaccording to which the national team plays matches day after day. It’s sick, it’s not normal. Rugby players have a match every seven days. This is also a contact sport. Now to see how the boys look, they cannot recover in 24 hours. The players should rebel and do something because it’s not normal, that’s why a million injuries happen, but we can’t do anything about it. Špoljarić concluded.
Croatia opened the second round of the EP with a victory against Iceland
(www.jabuka.tv | Photo: Sanjin Strukic/Pixsell)
