Konkoly: "A victory would count double"

After Győri Audi ETO KC lost against Zvezda Zvenigorod last Sunday, the Hungarians would like to make amends by beating Podravka Koprivniva in the second round of the EHF Women’s Champions League. ehfCL.com asked coach Csaba Konkoly about his team’s previous matches and their chances against the Croatians.

ehfCL.com: How would you rate your defeat at Zvezda’s court?

Csaba Konkoly: It’s a disappointment in many respects. We had a whole week to prepare against the Russians, and I thought we’d have the required precision. The final result just doesn’t show this. We made the same mistakes as last year against Zvezda: we had a bad start in the early phase of the first half, and then we could only chase the Russians. They were better than us in almost all aspects of the game. They played much better in the back positions and also had more fast breaks. Our defence wasn’t working to the game plan we’d discussed before the game.

ehfCL.com: Your team played against Vác in the Hungarian League on Wednesday. Were you satisfied with what you saw?

Csaba Konkoly: We also started this match badly, and gave a 5 goal advantage to our opponent. However, before half time we scored 10 goals and didn’t concede any in 10 minutes. After this we could prepare for Sunday’s match in the second half. We have to prepare for the game without Eduarda Amorim and Simona Spiridon who are both injured. Finally, we won against Vác by 9 goals, but even so, this standard of play won’t be enough in the EHF Women’s Champions League.

ehfCL.com: You will welcome Croatian Podravka on Sunday. What playing strength do you expect?

Csaba Konkoly: We are speaking about a good team. We already met them 3 years ago, so we have 3-4 familiar faces, some really big fighters, like Tatari and Pasicnik. We don’t have a lot of recent information about them, but we have to win two more times now. That’s because of our defeat in Russia and also because we’ll play on our home court. We’ll try to do our best for each other and for the team’s success. I really hope that if we can play more accurately and in a more disciplined fashion, it will resolve our initial nervousness.