Zovko trusts in the defence against Győr

Podravka will visit to unbeaten Győri Audi ETO on Saturday. Croatian coach, Zdravko Zovko, tells us about the chances.

Eurohandball.com: What does it feel to coach a women’s team after a men’s club?

Zdravko Zovko: I always say that the size of a handball court is 40x20 metres, so there’s no big difference between the two. Psychologically speaking, there is a differnece, however, so it was a great challange for me to make this change. I feel fine at Podravka.

Eurohandball.com: Podravka has a great past. But what is the present of the club like?

Zovko: This is a young club with great traditions that saw its heydays 10 years ago, but it is still the best team of Croatia. The girls met many Hungarian opponents in the EHF Cup and Champions League in the last 4-5 seasons. They played against Cornexi, Debrecen and Ferencváros. This first season will be for building, finding a team to have more chance in the CL next year.

Eurohandball.com: What do you think about the two matches played so far?

Zovko: We started very well by beating Ribarroja by five goals. Reality prevailed against Slagelse as we missed several 7-m shots and clear chances (Slagelse-Podravka 27-19 – ed.). This is due to having a young, inexperienced team, which is a bit shy abroad.

Eurohandball.com: Saturday you will visit to Győri Audi ETO. What do you expect?

Zovko: Győr are the favourites of the group, but we would like to play a tough, high speed game against them. I have seen both CL games and some league games of ETO. Based on these I can say that they are a strong team under construction for two years and they can also be satisfied with their new coach. The most important for us is the performance of our goalkeeper and our defence. We can base our game on these.