Golovin: There is confidence even in the absence of several leaders

“In the past decade and a half, we had a stronger Hungarian national team than today, yet we failed to beat France over three and a half Olympic cycles. How the hell could I not be proud?” – said women’s handball captain Vladimir Golovin cheerfully after the double matches in France.

The very reserved Hungarian national team, which lacked several key players, played two excellent matches in the home of the world champion. Although the French did not play in their strongest line-up, it was still a huge success that we beat them in the first game, and in the second we were able to lead until the end, but in the end we lost.

“The weekend went as planned! We tried out what we wanted, deployed who we wanted, improved where we wanted to move forward,” the captain added with satisfaction.

We really wanted to win the first one

The captain told the MOL Team before the two away matches that the Hungarian girls have a strong belief that they can compete with the best, but in such a reserve lineup it will be a tough task to be mentally ready for such a quality opponent. But for self-confidence, it was very important that we were able to win the first match.

“Poor Petra Szegény Vámos played 52 minutes in the first match, but in the beginning we were with Szacsa (Zoltán Szilágyi – we spoke with the new second coach here recently) that even if it is a preparation match, where the point is to give everyone a chance, this match must we should win. Petra showed with a seven and a goal in the beginning that even if the girls are tired, their will will help them through a lot,” said the captain with a wide smile.

“Before the doubles match, I told the girls that we have to start from the Olympic opening match, we must not go below that level. It’s true that the duel resulted in a defeat, but we accomplished what we wanted very well and the team was in good shape mentally.”This time we were even able to do it with a shovel, as not only did we win, but there were also excellent individual performances in the team.”

Golovin added that the result was similar in the second match, going into the last ten minutes we were even in the lead, but here the victory was no longer the most important thing for us.

Everything went smoothly in Toulon: both the defense and attack worked well (photo: MKSZ/Anikó Kovács)

“At the home of an elite opponent, he has to show everyone what he’s worth in a tight final game! You can’t find this out in training, the players have to experience it, and it was also important for us to keep some of our players on the field, because those who don’t get enough match load in their club, it’s in moments like this that it becomes clear how ready they are.

The Szemerey show also showed that the replacement line is ready

Among other things, the captain was thinking of Zsófi Szemerey, who himself said after the first match that he was on the field more in the Toulon match than in his club’s last five matches combined.

He drove the French crazy (photo: MKSZ/Anikó Kovács)

“Zsófi gave a class performance, not just a good one, and there is nothing more reassuring for a captain than to see that even those who play less are capable of decisive play. Now everyone is talking about the first game, and Zsófi was also great in the second, and I can only say good things about Anna Bukovszky, who also defended very well.”

It is unfair to talk about substitutes and starters, since in today’s handball you can solve a match with a few substitutions, but in big tournaments, due to the series load, this is impossible. The full squad is needed, and for that reason Golovin’s satisfaction is particularly understandable, since we were missing several key players in France.

The captain and his assistant (photo: MKSZ/Anikó Kovács)

“It’s also not incidental that we improved a lot on what we didn’t like against the Romanians, and it was a very good feeling that the girls’ faith remained in our team despite the fact that several of our leaders were not with us. It’s a very good message before the Euros, and even though I know we’ll have some weaker games, I’m very proud of the girls.”