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MUNICH - Comments from Denmark head coach Nicolaj Jacobsen (DEN), Czechia head coach Xavier Sabate (ESP), Czechia line players Daniel Reznicky (CZE) and Vit Reichl (CZE), Portugal head coach Paulo Pereira (POR), Portugal right wing António Areia and Portugal centre back Rui Silva (POR) at media calls on Wednesday.
DENMARK
Nikolaj Jacobsen (DEN) – head coach
On pressure to do well as the reigning three-time world champions:
“I think we always have pressure on us. There is a lot of expectations in Denmark, they think we are going to win every time, but we are unfortunately not doing that. But we go into every tournament with this mindset that if we are going to play well, the others have to be good to beat us. We know that if we have a great tournament, we are one of those teams who can dream about winning it.”
On Denmark’s target for the Men’s EHF EURO 2024:
“Two years ago, it was close, we lost to Spain in the semi-finals. So, we are trying, as a first step, to reach the semi-finals. And then we go on from there.”
On Denmark’s first opponents, Czechia:
“I think it will be a tough match for us. Czechia are playing very good, fast handball, with a very aggressive defence, and a lot of good players. And opening matches are always very special, everybody wants to have a good start in the tournament. But we have to be patient and know we are playing against a good team.”
CZECHIA
Xavier Sabate (ESP) – head coach
On Czechia being ready for the start of the tournament:
“I think we are ready. We know that we are not the favourites in the group. The group is very tough with probably the favourites to win the gold medal, Denmark; with a great Portugal; and with a team like Greece that is not well-known, but they have good players and big fighters. We are ready to compete fact-to-face with everyone.”
On Denmark as the first opponents:
“For me the most important is our team. They are the favourites, we don’t have pressure, but I’m sure we can play a match face-to-face against Denmark.”
On the ambitions for Czechia at the EHF EURO:
“We will see. This is a really tough competition, this is not only one match, every two days you have a match. We have showed we are able to win against top teams, like Iceland. But we are focused to play match-by-match. We have a huge team spirit.”
Daniel Reznicky (CZE) – line player
On the start of the tournament against Denmark:
“It’s both excitement and nerves, but we are looking forward to starting. We had a lot of trainings, a lot of tactical preparation, but I think we are ready. Denmark are big favourites to win the championship, so we have nothing to lose.”
On what Czechia need to go deep into the tournament:
“We must be ready – physically, mentally, and tactically. I think we have it, but always you need a little bit luck as well. If you have this, you can go deep. For us the goal is to go through this group stage to [the main round in] Hamburg. So, we will do everything for that. I think defence and fast breaks are our biggest strengths.”
Vit Reichl (CZE) – line player
On meeting Denmark in the first match:
“We know that we have a hard opponent for the start. We did a really good preparation, and we are confident to play at the same level with everyone. We must try to play our game, try to force Denmark to play our game – not their game. Then we will see what the result will be.”
On the strengths of the Czech team:
“That is the defence, for sure, because our coach is a real specialist. We do a lot of things in training for the defence. And the team spirit, we are like one family and we will show it on the court.”
On the goals for the Czech team:
“The main goal is to show that we are improving, that we can play with everyone. For sure, we want to go on. The last tournament in 2022 in Bratislava, we played good against Sweden, we played good against Spain, but we just didn’t make it to the next round. The qualifiers for this tournament were also good, we beat Iceland, and now we want to make the next step.”
PORTUGAL
Paulo Pereira (POR) – head coach
On missing several injured players at the EHF EURO:
“We made a lot of changes. We miss four key players because they are injured. So we must make a different configuration in our defence system. But I think we know the way, we know what we want. In attack, we have really great players, but in defence and balance, we must fix something.”
On the first match against Greece:
“It can be a little bit unpredictable when it comes to the gameplan; I don’t know exactly what Greece can do. For a team that plays first time at the European Championship, the emotions are on top, and everything can happen. But I think we are better, theoretically we must win, and I think we will win. But we must focus on our plan.”
On progression since Portugal’s debut four years ago
“We have only seven players from 2020, and during these four years we have learned a lot – good things and bad things. But in the end, it’s always good if you learn. Two years ago is no reference for us, we couldn’t prepare for that tournament as we had 11 cases of Covid. But we fought well, we lost by one against Hungary and by one against Netherlands. The line between heaven and hell is very small.”
António Areia (POR) – right wing
On the start of the tournament:
“The feeling is anxious but in a good way. It’s my third European Championship, we are not new here. We have a good plan and we know what we have to do to make our goals. Our main focus is just on Greece. Step-by-step we will see how to deal with the competition.”
On debutants Greece as first opponents:
“We were in that position in 2020 when we went to Norway for our first European Championship. And I know the feeling that Greece are feeling now, because they are new here, maybe a little but unknown, but we have studied a lot about Greece. We have to use our experience playing our third competition to get past them and get the best result for us.”
On the atmosphere in the team:
“Comparing to the other years, we are a little bit younger now. But the spirit is crazy amazing. We start to have young Portuguese players playing in the best leagues in Europe, the Portuguese clubs are doing a really good job in the Champions League and also in the European League. We are improving, we are very ambitious. Our spirit is very happy, you have to enjoy it when you are in a competition like this.”
Rui Silva (POR) – centre back
On the first match against debutants Greece:
“We know they can make it difficult for us. But we have to start the game with a lot of preparation and are confident we can make a good game. They come to fight and try to win. Four years ago, we came that way and surprised some teams, so now we don’t want to be surprised by that kind of teams.”
On the learnings from previous EHF EUROs:
“We can learn that every team that starts here, has a really good quality. If you are in a bad shape or you are not well prepared, it can be difficult against teams that people maybe do not expect much from. I believe we have learned from that and I hope against Greece we show that we come to do something great again.”
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