Javier Cabanas: “Mistakes of a junior team”

Portland San Antonio had an important week. They could have shown the real strength of their new roaster. Valladolid and GOG Gudme were two tests that Portland could not pass. The situation is not easy for Pamplona and ehfCL.com talks to Javier Cabanas about it.

Eurohandball.com: The defeat in Valladolid and the draw in the Champions League against GOG are two really bad results for Portland.

Javier Cabanas: We wouldn’t have believed that we make such results. The defeat in Valladolid could still be explained, because it is a very difficult court. But the draw against GOG was not allowed. I think we are a better team. We have another chance to solve the problem. It is a group round and not knock-out stage. However, we must stand up and win the next match. If we make another mistake, the other teams will think that we are easy opponents.

Eurohandball.com: Is there a solution right now?

Javier Cabanas: We must keep the same for an entire match. We played really brilliant handball for some minutes, but we made mistakes of a junior team. It is not possible to waste a four-goal lead in three minutes. We repeated this twice and it could cause uncertainty within the team. We must be positive but critical too.

Eurohandball.com: Are you worried about the reaction of the fans?

Javier Cabanas: I hope that the people will be patient with us. I’m sure that the supporters will be with us when we need them. However, we know that we have a responsibility. We must play good games, entertain them and win titles. Of course, we must try to avoid tension between players and fans. They are very important for us.

Eurohandball.com: Do you think that the shoes of Equisoain are too large to fill?

Javier Cabanas: The problem is not Zupo Equisoain. We are forming a new team and it is not 100% ready. I know that we are not in our form, but I thought that we could win these complicated matches. However, the situation is not tragic. We do a good job every day with the team. We will get things right in the CL.