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BERLIN – Comments from Slovenia line player Matic Suholeznik (SLO) and right wing Domen Novak (SLO), Faroe Islands head coach Peter Bredsdorff-Larsen (DEN) and goalkeeper Nicholas Satchwell (FAR). and Norway head coach Jonas Wille (NOR), centre back Christian O'Sullivan (NOR) and right wing Kristian Bjørnsen (NOR) at media calls on Sunday.
SLOVENIA
Matic Suholeznik (SLO) - line player
On his the win against Poland which secured them a place in the main round:
"The most important thing is that we do what we say in the locker room and we prepare really good for the match. Of course, with the Faroe Islands we don't start from the beginning, but yesterday we started from the beginning to give 100 per cent and that's why we won."
On his expectation ahead of the match against Norway:
"They will motivated for sure because this match decides who will be the first in the group and who will take points in the next group and they will be motivated. Now we are relaxed that we are going to the second stage of the tournament and they are favourites, but we will give 100 per cent and I'm sure that we have chance to win."
On facing Norway's offensive players:
"They have one of the best attacking trio in the world and they are one of the best players, but still we have some experience and we are not players from yesterday, so we will give 100 per cent and in the end we will see what that will bring us."
Domen Novak (SLO) - right wing
On expectations ahead of the match against Norway:
"Yesterday's game of Norway doesn't matter for us because it's almost the same if they won or if they draw. We have to run forward and we have to run faster back in defence because they run a lot.
“We are ready to fight against one team that has a lot of potential, a lot of huge superstars in the world of handball. But, we are also a great team and we are ready to fight against them."
On whether Slovenia and its players are aware of their potential:
"Maybe we didn't know before the first game how we can respond, but I think now we can also see that the Faroe Islands is serious team that can compete with anyone in the tournament. We are happy to be in the main round, but that was our first goal to achieve and now we can go only up."
On whether they are more confident after two wins:
"Every win brings confidence and now, we are a little bit relaxed, well not really relaxed, but we see that we can play against anyone and that we are a great team and we can bring energy to the game, that we can run and I think we set a higher standard."
FAROE ISLANDS
Peter Bredsdorff-Larsen (DEN) - head coach
On the draw with Norway:
"We have already spent a lot of time now preparing for Poland, but of course we also like to evaluate on our performance against Norway. There were some really amazing parts of the game that we were really proud of and we won against Slovenia nicely regarding the counterattacks.
“And yet again we played against marvellous team in Norway with 7-on-7 in counterattacks and that's amazing because we took a big chance playing seven against six a lot of time and that would normally create a lot of chances for Norway."
On his expectations ahead of the match against Poland:
"From here, we will just be looking at Poland now and we will do everything we can to make a new great game and try to beat Poland on Monday.
“If we can, we will take a quick shower and sit in the stands to see what Slovenia can do. We know Slovenia has a lot to play for because if they beat Norway, they will take two points and if we can manage to beat Poland, we will bring 5,000 or maybe now 6,000 spectators from the Faroe Islands to cheer our love for Slovenia, so it will be a crazy night in the hall."
Nicholas Satchwell (FAR) – goalkeeper
On the draw with Norway and the atmosphere in the arena:
"We are very happy with the result and how we played. The atmosphere in the hall was crazy, incredibly proud to be part of the team and what we achieved yesterday."
On his performance against Norway:
"Regarding my own performance, both me and Pauli who is the other goalkeeper, we felt that we lacked or missed a couple of saves in the first match against Slovenia and we wanted to prove ourselves yesterday.
“I think we managed to do that, not only myself, but Pauli [Jacobsen] comes in at the end of the game and he made three crucial saves at the end of the day, which is not easy to do when you've spent a lot of time on the bench. Incredibly proud of him and what we achieved yesterday against one of the best teams in the world."
On the expectations ahead of the match against Poland:
"We haven't had much time to do preparations yet, but we have a tactical meeting later today and the coach will present our tactics for tomorrow and what we want to achieve and we will have a meeting with the goalkeeping coach later on today and we will start looking at some of their shooters and make some plans for them. "
NORWAY
Jonas Wille (NOR) – head coach
On the 26:26 draw with the Faroe Islands:
"I think the Faroe Islands played a really good match and they were really good with seven-on-six and especially with Elias Ellefsen á Skipagøtu, he did all the decisions and still, we felt that we were doing quite well in defence, but in the end he was coming out of the situation like a winner.
“We created enough chances ourselves to win the match, but especially the start in the second half, 10 to 15 mins where their goalkeeper did a lot of saves when it was one-vs-one against the goalkeeper. In that period we should have made comfortable lead, but when we didn't get that opportunity, the stress comes up in a place and then, in the end.
“We managed to have this three-goal lead and in that situation, we should have used more time in attack instead of shooting early because that's when the Faroe Islands got the opportunity to have the ball again and again instead of being clinical and spent more time in attack."
On whether Norway lacked confidence to finish off the match against the Faroe Islands:
"That's too easy to say as we have 16 different individuals in the team and we could 16 different answers on why they don't perform and if you sum it up to one or two situations we could have won by one or two goals and no one would have mentioned any lack of confidence. Then everybody would say we are a strong mental team because you see the Faroe Islands stressed Slovenia too, but they managed to win and no one talks about it. But I think we were stressed and you could also see that in our counterattack, we put on a brake and that's typical when you are under pressure."
On the expectations ahead of the match against Slovenia:
"Hopefully, we will win because we are under pressure now and we need to show ourselves and the Norwegian people that we can cope under pressure, but the atmosphere in the group is confident and looking forward to the match."
Christian O'Sullivan (NOR) - centre back
On the 26:26 draw with the Faroe Islands:
"We missed too many shots from six meters, we played a pretty good match defensively and offensively. We get a lot of good chances and chances that we want, we were not able to score enough goals and sadly, we made some mistakes in the end which cost us a point."
On whether Norway lacked confidence to take responsibility and finish the game:
"Absolutely not. If you could watch the game again, I think we shot too early that people wanted to decide the game. I think that's much of a problem than people not wanting to shot because we could have played much more conservatively and held the ball for much longer time.
“The Faroe Islands played normally like with one minute in attack and we could have done that also with two minutes to go. So, I think it is quite the opposite."
On the expectations ahead of the match against Slovenia:
"We are looking forward to it, against a great team and they play really well in the first two games and I'm looking forward to the challenge."
On whether the atmosphere in the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin had an impact on the final result:
"Probably, but these are the sort of conditions that we want to play in, if they are against us or for us. We want to have an amazing atmosphere and it was really, really special to play in front of so many fans from the Faroe Islands. Amazing atmosphere, but not the result that we wanted."
Kristian Bjørnsen (NOR) - right wing
On what went wrong for Norway against the Faroe Islands:
"First of all, I think the Faroe Islands played a very good seven-on-six, they made a few mistakes and made it difficult for us to get some counterattacks and easy goals and the goalkeepers also played very well for them. Then, we made some easy mistakes and gave them the chance to get a point."
On whether the atmosphere created by the Faroese had an impact on the final result:
"Maybe. At least the atmosphere helped their team and you could see that were bigger and better with the supporters in the back, it was a great atmosphere and for them, that was perfect for one point."
On the expectations ahead of the match against Slovenia:
"I think it's going to be a tight and tough game as Slovenia are a really good team with a lot of good players in the top clubs in Europe and it's going to be a physical and a tight game I guess."
TEXT: EHF / Filip Mishov
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