EHF Champions League introduces:
Vlado Sola (CO Zagreb) – part 3/4  

In these four weeks, we will introduce you CO Zagreb goalkeeper, Vlado Sola. The Croatian handballer reached his best results with the national team. He won silver medal at the 1995 World Championship in Iceland, just as in 2005 Tunisia. Sola took the gold medal at the 2003 WCh in Portugal, and he is also Olympic Champion of Athens 2004.

CO Zagreb has been reinforced during the summer with mostly top Croatian national players. The strongest team of the country has become one of the strongest teams in the world as well. New players such as Dzomba, Vori, Jerkovic, Spoljaric, the Slovenian Bedekovic or the FYR Macedonian Lazarov guarantee quality, but they will definitely need time to become a successful side. This week we ask Vlado Sola about the new team of CO Zagreb.

Eurohandball.com: You played for Zagreb already last year. What has changed since then?

Vlado Sola: Last season we did not have such a strong team. We focused on the Cup Winners’ Cup because we felt that we have better chance there than in the Champions League. We were right, the club played in Europe the whole spring.

However, this is a changed situation. We have many new high quality players and we have greater ambitions. When there are great ambitions, there is a lot of euphoria around the club. Today people talk about the team in Zagreb.

Eurohandball.com: How many spectators will you have this season?

Vlado Sola: Let’s wait and see. The first home game in the CL is going to be on Sunday. I got the information that much more supporters will show up than before and a new fan club will be there.

Eurohandball.com: It would not be a surprise with all these new players in the team. What is your impression about them?

Vlado Sola: They all played for the biggest clubs in the world, Ciudad Real, Barcelona, etc. Mirza Dzomba, for example, returns to Croatia after six years abroad. Vori also had many other offers when he decided to leave Barcelona, but he saw that the team and the atmosphere around the team will be good, so he came home.

Eurohandball.com: And the other goalkeeper, Jerkovic? Is it easy for you to work with him?

Vlado Sola: He performed very well in the national team and he has an experience from Germany and Switzerland. He is 33 now, so he can play for Zagreb for 6-7 years. It was a good choice to bring him back. In fact, I have no problems working with anyone, we have a good relationship.

Eurohandball.com: The roster has been reinforced, but maybe the most important change was on the bench. Lino Cervar takes over Zagreb again…

Vlado Sola: He is involved in politics, Member of Parliament, and it took a lot of time from him. He chose to work with the national team and in politics. There will be general elections in Croatia within two months and he told me that he does not plan to go for a position again. He will dedicate all his time and energy to Zagreb, which is good for the club. He is the best coach in the world.

Eurohandball.com: He has to manage so many world class players at the same time. What is his style like? How can he do that?

Vlado Sola: Lino? Lino is a really open guy… You can talk with him about everything. A part of his personality is a happy, funny man, while on the other hand he is also very serious. He is always calm and relaxed, sometimes we laugh so much at his jokes that it hurts…

But we also train hard and practice a lot. Dzomba told me that he did not practice so intensively in the last six year.

Eurohandball.com: Zagreb has new players, but there is also a young talent who is in the centre of attention now. What do you think about Duvnjak?

Vlado Sola: Duvnjak is very interesting. Last year he played really well. He is the kind of young player who does not care who he plays against. He is not only a big talent, but also a very serious guy. I would say that he is 28 and not 19 from his behaviour.

Ivano Balic said that Duvnjak is twice as good as he was at the age of 19…

Eurohandball.com: Finally, what do you expect from the weekend’s game?

Vlado Sola: We can only accept victory as we are the better side. We lost a match already, so now we have to win.

An attractive game is not even important. We did a lot of work in the past few days and we will hopefully reach our top form next week when we play in Schaffhausen.

We will meet Vlado Sola once again next week when we will ask him about these important CL games and much more. Don’t miss the last chapter of the series!

Previously:

EHF Champions League introduces: Vlado Sola (CO Zagreb) – part 1/4
EHF Champions League introduces: Vlado Sola (CO Zagreb) – part 2/4

The László Nagy (FC Barcelona) interview series