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MUNICH - Comments from Iceland head coach Snorri Steinn Guðjónsson (ISL) and right wing Sigvaldi Gudjonsson (ISL), and Hungary head coach Chema Rodriguez (ESP) and line player Adrián Sipos (HUN); Serbia head coach Antonio Gerona (ESP), left back Uros Borzas (SRB) and Montenegro head coach Vlado Sola (CRO), line player Vuk Lazovic (MNE) after Montenegro beat Serbia 30:29 and Hungary beat Iceland 33:25 at the Olympiahalle München on Tuesday.
ICELAND vs HUNGARY
Snorri Steinn Guðjónsson (ISL) – head coach, Iceland
On the match:
“We have to admit that we didn´t have a chance today, especially in the second half. We lost against a much better team with more quality, more spirit.
“In the second half it was a big disappointment for us. We lost almost every aspect of the game. Made a lot of mistakes, missed chances. Hungary played a really good game. Focused solid performance for them.
“We didn't deserve anything from this game. But I believe in my team, the character that we have, that we will bounce back in the main round.”
On the upcoming match against Germany:
“I don’t have to say it will be a tough match, Germany at home in Cologne. It will be a difficult but great game for us to play. We will fight for the win.”
Sigvaldi Gudjonsson (ISL) — right wing
On the key to the difference against Hungary:
“We just played bad. We made a lot of technical faults. We didn’t score goals. They had a lot of saves. We didn’t have so many. It’s a lot of technical faults, so that annoys me a lot, but it’s handball and they were much better than us today, clever.”
On whether he was happy with the first half:
“I felt like our first half was good, especially in defence. Maybe we could have got some saves, some more saves. They were running home really good, Hungary. But we need to score goals from these counter attacks, so we don’t have to work so hard for every goal. But today they were good.”
On what is important looking ahead to the main round:
“Now we just need to reset and watch the game again. See what’s bad. But I think it’s pretty easy: We need to score goals and then we get a bit more flow in our attack.”
Chema Rodriguez (ESP) – head coach, Hungary
On the match:
“I will never forget Munich for a long time. When you win at this high level three matches in a row it is so difficult.
“It was a really difficult match for us. After that everybody knows after the red card of Bence Bánhidi it was a different match for us. We needed to change our plan. We made a amazing job in attack, amazing job in defence also.
“I only can say I’m so proud of the team, of the players. I hope we can continue in the main round with this level.”
On the main round:
“I was a lot of times in Cologne and I don't have too much good experience there but I hope it will be different now with my team. All the matches are difficult and all the teams are really really good.”
Adrián Sipos (HUN) — line player
On their defence against Iceland:
“What we prepared against them worked really, really fantastic today. We helped each other. We were together in all the game and we supported each other. And then when we had some mistakes, the goalkeeper helped us from behind. We prepared everything about them and it was a really nice time in the court. I think until now these three games were really, really good.”
On what they changed at half-time to create such a clear lead:
“Everyone felt during the game the opportunity that we had and believed in everyone much more. What we changed, I think, was the come back, the balance, when we come back and don’t let them score easy voice and fast breaks. I think this was the biggest key because today, the six-against-six was really good from our team and the defence was really good and our goalkeeper helped us a lot.”
On the upcoming games in Cologne, where hosts Germany will play:
“I really wait for these games. I don’t want to think too far. Just the next game. And we will go game by game in the next round.
“Of course, it will be a really, really good atmosphere in Germany. What I played until now, everybody was amazing. And I can imagine Germany, in front of their fans, what they can do. No one will help us, just our fans, but we like to play against a lot of fans.”
On the group in Cologne, including Austria’s qualification over Spain:
“We already played in the hardest group in the EURO and we will arrive again to the hardest group. But we know very well here in this European championship, it’s really, really hard to find a bad team. It was a surprise from Austria.
“No one expected this from Spain but sometimes the big teams also can fall down or how I can say. But we need to think about our own goals and our games and like this I think we can continue.”
SERBIA vs MONTENEGRO
Vlado Sola (CRO) – head coach, Montenegro
On the match:
"It was very hard to play against Serbia. Until the end it was very hard for me and my players because we lost two matches in the same way how we won today. I think we deserved that – same like Serbia but especially because we lost two matches in the same way and we were underdogs at this tournament. We played well and I said to my players we will get a reward for it on the court. I want to say thank you to my players and all the guys who participated in the training.
On Vuko Borozan:
"Vuko Borozan was one of the best left backs in the world some years ago. I’m happy that he agreed to play with us because he has so much experience and so much knowledge in handball that makes my life easier."
Antonio Gerona (ESP) - head coach, Serbia
On the match:
"After two defeats like this, we weren't able to recover. I have to say that we lost the game five or six days ago against Iceland in the last two minutes.
"We said at the beginning of this group how difficult will it be to play and finally it was like this. We know how hard it will be for the people in Serbia. Big derby and OK, it was not the achievement that we expected of course. We kept our hopes for the main round but finally, it’s clear that we didn’t deserve it."
Uros Borzas (SRB) — left back
On the key to Montenegro leading most of the game:
“We opened the game like 4:0. It cannot happen against any team in the European championship. It’s really difficult to bounce back, you know, but I don’t know. They wanted more today and they deserved to win.
"We have to congratulate them for the win and we have to keep working even harder than till now. It’s really hard to speak now after this tough loss against Montenegro, even though if we would win, we will not maybe go to the next round if Hungary doesn’t beat Iceland. But still, we would like to finish the European championship with a win and to go home with a good taste in our mouths.”
On the mental impact of the close results and how this affected their game today:
“This group is the hardest group in the European championship. Anybody can say whatever he wants. If you have four teams who can beat everybody; everybody can beat everyone. Like we showed against Iceland in the first game, we had them, we lost them, we lost two points in the last 30 seconds. Also Montenegro played a really tough game against them. Hungary is performing so well.
"It’s really a tough group. It was so hard even though in the beginning we were saying that maybe this group is our chance to be first, but we still knew that this group is really, really hard."
On the positives to take from the EHF EURO 2024:
“There’s many positive things. This European championship is a great experience for many of us, let’s say, young players who are in the national team. We have to play many, many more championships, hopefully, for our national team and we have to take every opportunity like it’s the last.”
Vuk Lazovic (MNE) — line player
On the last-second win:
“Such a tough game for us. After two games losing the last five, 10 seconds, finally, we won tonight.”
On his block in the final minute that led to a key goal:
“This is my job. I’m a defence specialist, and this is my job to keep all players around me together and to make blocks in the important moments.”
On how competitive the preliminary round was:
“It’s a crazy group. The group where all games end with one goal and every team can beat another team. In the end, we go home now but we showed a lot in this tournament.”
On what it means to finish with a positive result:
“It’s positive because we have a good now drawing for the World Championship. We hope it will bring some good appointment against us in the qualification games and I hope this will do everything good for us.”
TEXT: EHF / Courtney Gahan
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