GOG going for more

With a sensational 35-33 win over FC Barcelona, GOG Svendborg TGI made Group 4 wide open. However, the success was unexpected as the Danish champions were in pretty poor form before the game.

Though only 25, Jacob Green Jensen is among the most experienced players of the team. Jensen can play in all backcourt positions or left winger as well. Eurohandball.com talks to the former international player about his team’s sudden success.

Eurohandball.com: Did you really believe that you could beat Barcelona after two defeats in the Danish league?

Jacob Green: You always believe a bit, but of course we felt that the Barcelona match came in a somewhat unfortunate period. On the other hand, we felt no pressure as no one probably expected anything from us. So maybe the time for that game was just right after all…

Eurohandball.com: After defeating the greatest favourites in the group, anything is possible now?

Jacob Green: Well, at least we agreed that we want to put pressure on all opponents at home. And hopefully we will get some more points out of that. It will be considerably more difficult when we play away as we have bad record from away matches in Europe. This is mainly due to our physical shortcomings. We have to take one match at a time as I still do not think that anyone expects a lot from us. We can still play freely and now we have shown that we can put even the greatest favourites under pressure, so the future just looks great!

Eurohandball.com: On the other hand the other teams will take you seriously after this…

Jacob Green (laughing): That’s right! However, we also have to be able to play well when we are not the underdogs. I’m not sure that Barcelona underestimated us after we drew twice against Portland San Antonio in the first group phase…

Eurohandball.com: Two draws against Portland San Antonio and now victory against FC Barcelona. Do you have a particularly good grip on Spanish teams?

Jacob Green: Anyway, it is obvious that they are not used to our fast style. The Spanish teams are used to slowing down and then ‘explode”. Furthermore, they play more individually than we do. It was obvious that both Portland San Antonio and Barcelona were surprised by our fast attacks, so that may be the explanation why we did particularly well against the Spanish teams.