MUNICH - Comments from Czechia left back Jaroslav Trkovský (CZE) and centre back Matej Havran (CZE), Portugal left back Salvador Salvador (POR) and right back Joaquim Nazaré (POR), Greece left wing Georgios Papavasilis (GRE) and left back Theodoros Boskos (GRE), and Denmark centre backs Rasmus Lauge (DEN) and Simon Pytlick (DEN) at media calls on Friday 12 January.

CZECHIA

Jaroslav Trkovský (CZE) – left back

On the 23:14 defeat against Denmark:
“The first half was really good. The biggest problem was the second half, because we scored just five goals and against a big team like Denmark it is not possible to score just five goals and win the match.

“Of course, the biggest positive is our defence, because it was our tactic to get few goals from Denmark. I think the work in the defence was very good, also the work of the goalkeeper, [Tomas] Mrkva, was very good. But the problem was in attack.”

On the importance of the next matches:
“Nobody expected us to win against Denmark. So now we have the key matches against Portugal and Greece. Against Portugal, we have to win. We started our preparations in December and from the start we have been watching our opponents. So we know what they are playing and we know what we want to play against them. We will work on some details now and focus.”

On the game against Portugal on Saturday:
“I think it will be a fast match because Portugal is playing really fast. It will be much different from the match against Denmark. They play faster handball, a different style. So I hope there will be more goals than against Denmark. I hope, and I think, that we will win. If we will defend like against Denmark and we do better work in attack, we can win.”

Matej Havran (CZE) – centre back

On his EHF EURO debut, against Denmark:
“It is my first big tournament and my first match is against Denmark, the best team on the planet. It was a pleasure for me, the atmosphere in the arena was incredible. I did my best but it can always be better. I think they showed their quality. We can play an equal match for 30, 35 minutes, but then they show their quality.”

On the strong defensive performance against Denmark:
“They score 32 goals per match on average, and it was more than two years that they scored less than 26. So, that they scored only 23 is a success for us. Our coach cares more about defence than attack. But with scoring 14 goals you cannot win a handball match – even with our great defence. And Tomas Mrkva was great in goal.”

On the 9:9 half-time score against Denmark:
“We believed from the beginning of the match we could win. I remember the European championship in 2018, when I was in high school and watched them play Denmark and beat them by one goal. Now, we can surprise everybody, and we have the quality to play with the best teams. After the first half, Denmark changed a few things and I must say, it was a great step from their coach.”

On the upcoming match against Portugal:
“I expect a very equal match, big drama. And I hope with a good ending for us. I know if we want to make it to the next stage of the tournament we have to win. We are well prepared. Our coach makes good videos from all the players, he knows them from the [Machineseeker EHF] Champions League.

“Before Denmark we didn’t think about the next match, and after (Thursday’s) match there is not much time for making changes.”

On comparing Denmark and Portugal:
“Denmark play quicker, they have a lot of quality individually – in one-on-one, in shooting from distance from every player. And Portugal are good in tactical play. Most of them play together in Porto so they know each other well, can play seven-against-six, have a good connection with the pivot, and they are also good individually.”

PORTUGAL

Salvador Salvador (POR) – left back

On winning the first match against Greece:
“It was a tough game for us. We did quite a good job on the first half, but in the second half we enter a little bit down. We missed some shots, we missed some balls, and they drew the game until 10 minutes after the break.

“After the timeout it was really good for us, we put more energy in it, we were more compact in defence, we won a lot of balls. Our goalkeeper helped us a lot, too.”

On the next opponents, Czechia:
“It will be a completely different match for us. They have a strong team, really good on one-against-ones, with a good coach who has clever ideas. They do a really good first half against Denmark, but we are here to compete with everyone, and we really want to win this next match and go the main round.”

On playing the first match of a major tournament after a long preparation
“This is only my second big competition. It’s really a pleasure for me to be here, to see all these big teams and big players. It is a tough competition, you have really good teams in each group, everyone wants to pass to the next phase.”

On the positives Portugal can take from the first match into the next match against Czechia:
“We need to continue our intensity, especially on defence, to help our goalkeeper. [Gustavo] Capdeville made a lot of difficult saves. It will be a completely different match, they have other strong points, other weak points. We continue to put everything in our game, be compact, and have a lot of energy.”

Joaquim Nazaré (POR) – right back

On the 31:24 win against Greece:
“The match was very difficult for us. When we started, we had a lot of problems in defence. When we came back in defence in the second half, we could play better.

“Greece are a good national team, they have a lot of good players, but I think we have more quality. We can these games, not easy, but in the end we win them.”

On the next match against Czechia:
“Playing against Czechia is more difficult. They also have a lot of good players, they have a good defence, good attack, good goalkeeper. We can only play with focus. If we play like the second half against Greece, we can win this match.”

On leading the standings for the fastest shot after the first two days of the EHF EURO:
“I am happy. In this competition, there are a lot of players with big shots. I spoke about this with Miguel Martins, because he told me: ‘You passed me.’ Because he was the number one before. It’s good fun. The next game I hope I will do better than this.”

On Portugal’s goals for the EHF EURO:
“First, we want to go into the main round and want a better position than in 2022. And we want qualification for the Olympics. We are focused on this.”

GREECE

Georgios Papavasilis (GRE) – left wing

On Greece’s debut in the EHF EURO:
“We were all so excited, so happy to take part in this championship. The emotions were many, we were waiting for this game for a long time. Our game was good, up and down, some moments where we were not so focused on the game. You can see it at the easy mistakes, they came from our inexperience. Against teams like Portugal, it is sure you get punished.”

On upcoming opponents:
“We have two very difficult games now. Denmark are one of the favourites to take the European championship; we will play to be competitive. And then we have Czechia, which are a very good team as we saw in their first match. So, we hope the best.”

On Greece’s goal for the rest of the EHF EURO:
“Our goal is to win one of the next two games. Of course, we have many more chances against the Czechs, but we will also give it all against Denmark, because we want to have a good image, to present ourselves to our fans. We give our best to be competitive against this kind of players, top-level players.”

On the support from Greek fans for the team:
“We are very happy that 500 Greek guys came to see us. This is very important to us. We all hope they keep supporting us in every game, in every championship. The hall was full of handball lovers, that was great. We don’t have something similar in Greece, because handball is one of the last sports.

“But here in Germany, the feeling was amazing: 12,000 people supporting handball. They gave us some extra motivation to play beautiful handball, to play our game.”

Theodoros Boskos (GRE) – left back

On the first match, which Greece lost 31:24 against Portugal:
“We knew already it was a very difficult game, we were outsiders. But we gave all our 100 per cent. But we knew Portugal had players with a lot of experience, who play in the [Machineseeker EHF] Champions League.

“We had a very good defence until 45 minutes in the game. In the last 15 minutes you saw we were a bit more tired than them, they ran more in the game. I think the difference was not good, we should be closer in the score. But this is handball, you have to play 60 minutes.”

On the next match against Denmark:
“Denmark are favourites in this game, for the championship also. This is a very good experience for us to start as a team, because it is the first competition for us. I think the Greece national team will be on another level at the next championships.

“We always try our best, even against Denmark. The game starts zero-zero, but if you play against [Niklas] Landin, Mikkel Hansen, [Mathias] Gidsel, it’s amazing. It’s a new experience, you learn from them, it’s fantastic.”

On the meaning of the EHF EURO for Greek handball:
“People from Denmark and Czechia [who played the second match] came early to see our game, that’s fantastic. Also, the Greek people stayed in the arena to watch the other game. It’s fantastic for the sport, and we also need this in Greece. We need to bring the people in Greece to the arenas.

“It can only go step-by-step. Our participation in the European championship is a big achievement for us, but at the same it’s not a big deal. We will move forward to keep our team in this kind of competitions. We have a great team, but we also need to be patient and go step-by-step.”

DENMARK

Rasmus Lauge (DEN) – centre back

On the 23:14 win in the first match against Czechia:
“I am excited we won the first game. I think we have to give some credit to the Czech squad, on being very disruptive and destructive in their defence and playing long and slow attacks which disturbed us mostly in the first half until we got more going. It made us a little uncomfortable.

“We missed some shots in the first half, and we made some stupid mistakes. We cannot allow ourselves to do that.”

On Denmark staying calm and not panicking when they struggled against Czechia:
“We cannot be that ignorant to think that nothing can happen; we try to have a lot of respect for each opponent. But we knew our strengths, we knew if we were going to do our stuff correctly and better, then that would solve the issue.

“There was a lot of great stuff in the second half. And overall, our defence was excellent. Of course, Emil [Nielsen] was excellent as well, but this is also in connection with the defence which was working very hard and very good. Overall, we can take a lot of positive stuff with us and also learn a lot about our mistakes.”

On the upcoming match against Greece:
“I hope we can control the game better from the beginning to allow ourselves to rotate a lot and to at least make a better statement. But they also have a lot of qualities.

“The thing about Greece is that we don’t have so much experience against these players because most of them play in Greece. Portugal struggled against them for 45 minutes, and we hope we can start better from the first minute.”

Simon Pytlick (DEN) – centre back

On the win against Czechia in their opening match:
“The first half was a little bit chaotic like we expected it to be. We are just satisfied with the two points. We also know that when you have to play the first game it’s always a little bit chaotic. It is about finding the balance.”

On the strength of Czechia:
“I have never played against Czechia and I was very positive about them. I have only good things to say about them, especially in the first half where they tried many new things that we didn’t expected so credits to them.”

On Greece as the next opponents:
“We don’t know Greece that much. We have seen some video of them and I just have to say it is a really good team, they have some really good players. When they come into the things they want, they have some really good shooting backs. So if we are not there 100 per cent, it will be a chaotic first half again.”

On Portugal as the last opponents in the preliminary round:
“It will be tough. Portugal are going to play really hard to see if they can get us a little but out of our balance. So, I expect a really close match, a match that is going to be decided at the end of the game.”

On being three-time world champions but not winning the EHF EURO since 2012:
“Every tournament we want to win, but there are so many good teams. There are seven, eight teams who can win this year, so it’s not going to be easy. And if we are not going to be there 100 per cent, it’s going to be really difficult.

“So, we need to be there every single match, and we will need a little bit of luck. The EURO is a really big tournament to win.”