The only objective: CL title

After the Russian success of Hypo Nö, Eurohandball.com talks to Tímea Tóth who scored 12 goals against Lada.

Eurohandball.com: What was the match like against Lada?

Tímea Tóth: It was a difficult match. We had the game under control all the way, but it was very close. Just before the end the Russians missed a 7-m shot so we could take a two-goal lead and win the match.

Eurohandball.com: Lada have beaten Hypo last year in the semi-final. What was the difference between the teams this time?

Tímea Tóth: We had much better tactics. We marked the two backcourt players closely. As a result, the other players had to take more responsibility. They are talented, but young handballers, so this was effective. In addition, they had a difficult league game during the week against Volgograd and it sapped some of their energy.

Eurohandball.com: There must have been a lot of pressure on you before the game. After all, you had a lot to pay back for Lada…

Tímea Tóth: The semi-final lost last season was not really discussed before the game. Hypo has new coach, new players, it’s a different season now. We could have lost; it would not have been a tragedy at this stage. Lavrik and Skopje are the others in our group, so this victory is very valuable.

Eurohandball.com: Hypo is famous for having only one objective a season: winning the Champions League. Does it make your task more difficult?

Tímea Tóth: When we arrived to the team and we started our first training camp, Gunnar Prokop came to us for a talk. He explained that our only objective is to win the Champions League. We cannot even have other goals as winning the Austrian title is not even a question.

Eurohandball.com: It means that you have to focus on only one thing. Is it not monotonous?

Tímea Tóth: We had 18 weeks of preparation before the start of the CL season. In Hungary we had five before the start of the Championship. We are in good physical condition by now when the important games are coming up. Now we have the CL group stage, we will play the World Championship in December and then we go on with the club. It is built up ideally for us.

Eurohandball.com: It seems that the objectives are set clearly...

Tímea Tóth: This is a professional club where players must only concentrate on handball. I live in Maria Enzersdorf next to the sports hall, not far from Vienna, which is a calm place and I enjoy living and playing here.