The players of coach Boris Denić outplayed the Ukraine which clearly isn't a team of the highest quality, but is still far from naive. Slovenia felt that in Zaporožje, Ukraine, last November when it lost 32:28. Slovenia's goal to "settle the score" was more than successful. In front of a full capacity crowd at the Rdeča dvorana in Velenje, the fans "played" together with Slovenia from the first minute onwards. And it quickly became clear that there would be no reason to fear that Slovenia could repeat a June scenario when it played under pressure against Belarus and lost a decisive match.
Denić: We took that which belongs to us
"I congratulate the boys for their good game and victory. We played maturely and with quality. We agreed to give everything we had from the first to the last. We didn't offer them anything and we didn't give them anything. We simply took that which belongs to us. I'd also like to thank the crowd who came here to support the national team and give it wings," said coach Denić. He was especially pleased that he managed to psychologically prepare his boys for the pre-qualification matches. "It was difficult to get them in the right mindset. We should be at the European Championship in Denmark right now, but we're playing qualification games. However we have succeeded. Even when that incident occurred during the match, it was important for me that we won."
Matej Gaber and Peter Pucelj proved again that with them in the team Slovenia's central defence is strongest. "We wanted to prove that we're more powerful and that the Ukrainians had nothing to look for with their muscles. We played very manly from the first minute onwards. Many times the match was on the verge of a bigger incident, but sometimes it's just like that when the stakes are high," said Pucelj.
M. Žvižej: When you play on the edge, sooner or later somebody just loses it
Miha Žvižej eased the load for Pucelj and Gaber in the central defence. He was also one of the main actors in the "fight" in the 45th minute: "We knew how the Ukrainians beat us up in the first match and so we agreed not to seek revenge, but to play good hard defence. Both teams played hard. And when you play the whole game on the verge of a 2-minute suspension, sooner or later somebody just loses it. And this time we all exploded. It may have been a bit unsportsmanlike, but we are playing in Slovenia. We can't allow to be thrashed at home."
The last obstacle to the World Championship in Qatar will be known on January 26th
Handball Slovenia is now relieved and everyone is waiting for the 26th of January, the last day of the European Championship in Denmark, when they'll draw the pairs for the additional June qualifying matches for the World Championship. One can only hope that the Slovenes will still have enough dynamite in them at the end of the season, and in that way win a spot at the Handball World Championship, which will take place between the 17th of January and 2nd of February, 2015, in Qatar.