Tuesday, November 26, 2024 07:57
The players of the women’s handball team know that they only have a chance against the elite field if the defense is organized. Nikoletta Papp became the key player in this, who acted as Petra Füzi-Tóvizi’s partner in order to make it clear that defense is now really the Hungarians’ strength. We also talk with the right-hander about the warm-up matches and the European Championship starting on Thursday. The mood is not pessimistic.
The women’s handball national team did not end the lead-up to the European Championship, which was partly organized at home, against the strongest teams, confidently defeating Slovakia and then Ukraine in the Jysk Cup. The two successes laid the foundation for the team’s good mood, but we asked that question Papp to Nikolettwhether these two matches really had a sporting value.
“From the point of view that we could only take care of ourselves, and winning is always good anyway, it was great,” said the Gloria Buzau right-hander with a laugh. “We were looking for teams that came to us, because we have been traveling a lot lately, and now it was good to finally play at home. So I think overall we have prepared well.”
The stronger one was already there
The Hungarian team knocked Ukraine into the ground with a little exaggeration, and according to Papp, this is also good news because our first opponent (Turkey) at the European Championship starting on Thursday represents a similar playing power to the Ukrainians. And it’s not that we deliberately avoided difficult opponents, as we faced France twice in October.
Niki Papp was also a key player against the French (photo: MKSZ/Anikó Kovács)
“Those two games were very important, and I hope that later we can say that they were also a turning point. It’s been a long time since we’ve beaten the French, almost a decade and a half, and now we’ve done it once, and once we were very close. What could be a greater confidence injection than this?” – asked the poetic question about the two matches.
“I think that all of our opponents now perceive that our team has made serious progress in the past period.
“The harmony is better, communication works very well, and cohesion brings out such strong performances from the team that we are able to catch even the best. I think the key is that even though we have stronger teams, it is certain that no one wants to be with us to win better”, said the 28-year-old shooter determinedly.
He mainly defends, but he doesn’t get embarrassed in front of the goal either (photo: MKSZ/Anikó Kovács)
“There are better and worse matches at the team and individual level, but after each one we sit down to discuss why it happened. We analyze everything in detail, because we know that small things decide very important matches. The results of the last period show that we are not on the wrong path,” he added cheerfully.
It’s all about defense
There were times when our women’s handball team included geniuses of such an era that they almost went on their own in every attack. Now we have a team with a completely different structure, and captain Golovin has said several times: we can be competitive with the best if we defend well, our goalkeeper defends well and we can score easy goals.
The defense must be perfect (photo: MKSZ/Anikó Kovács)
“We have such explosively talented young people who promise that things will be different, but now the situation is really that the basis of our game is good defense and the harmonious relationship between the wall and the goalkeeper.”This is what we deal with the most, and perhaps now it can be said that it has truly become our strength.”
Papp Niki has a huge role in how it turned out this way. Since his appointment, Golovin has been looking for the ideal three-guard pair in the middle of the Hungarian wall, and about a year ago he found the Papp-Tóvizi duo, which magically started to work excellently and yielded very nice results.
The captain found his partner in the back three (photo: MKSZ/Anikó Kovács)
“In addition to honing our joint work during training sessions, we also talk a lot in our free time, analyze and even prepare our own statistics with Petra. We know that it depends on a moment whether we miss or get there, and we are trying to make the harmony work well between both of us, between the goalkeeper and the three defenders. We have a much easier time with Petra, because we are even roommates,” he said with a laugh.
The European Championship is on our neck
The women’s handball team was placed in a good group and an acceptable branch, which must progress from the group (besides Sweden, Macedonia and Turkey). In the semi-finals, France and Spain will almost certainly come, probably Romania, but the fourth team is impossible to guess. Only two teams from the semi-finals advance directly to the semi-finals.
“I’m partly dreaming, but I also believe that we can get there. The group match against the Swedes will be extremely important for this, so even if we can’t handle the French, we can still make it to the semi-finals.
“Among the Scandinavians, the game of the Swedes suits us the most, I dare say, this is our game,” Papp said confidently, and not without reason, as we beat the Swedes in the Olympic qualifier (also in Debrecen) and were eliminated in the Olympics with less than five seconds left. them.
The Niki Papps worked the Swedes several times (photo: MKSZ/Anikó Kovács)
“And we also played a very good match against them in the vébé held on their home field,” added Papp. “Now I think everything is in our favor. The team has faith and confidence, we know and apply our own game well, and with a home crowd I don’t think we should be afraid of anyone. I’m confident and I can’t wait to get started,” he added with a big smile.
Source: molcsapat.hu
