Handball players survived a critical moment. I was afraid, but we showed strength, praises gunner Piroch

In the absence of the injured Stanislav Kašpárek, the national team had to rely only on the 23-year-old Piroch on the right clutch. And the young gunner handled his role brilliantly. In critical moments, he showed his typical move on goal and recorded nine hits from nine attempts. Although he took a few hard shots, he just went for the goals. “The Romanians were on the back foot, but we showed strength. Even though we didn’t do well, we went head-to-head,” praised the left-handed handball player.

In the noisy setting in the handball town of Baia Mare, the representatives seemed quite loud. “We expected a stormy atmosphere, nothing surprised us. The start was not bad, but then we were not able to defend the opponent,” Piroch described.

The Romanians worked well together in the pivot and shot from a distance. Goalkeeper Mrkva, who on Thursday caught Kiel after a fantastic turn to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League, did not touch the ball for several minutes. However, the Czechs were apparently inspired by Kiel’s chase, and although they were losing by seven goals twenty minutes before the end, they are going home with their heads held high.

“Fortunately, we didn’t stop playing. We changed the style of defense and managed to win the ball. And thanks to that, they scored goals from the second wave and we gradually pulled away. In the end, the result is good,” said the Polish Plock player, who is led by Spanish coach Xavier Sabate, who also trains the national team.

And after the match, he praised his charge for a successful comeback. “I congratulate our players. They realized that the match did not last twenty minutes, but sixty. At one critical moment, we were losing seven goals, but we didn’t give up,” praised Sabate.

Despite the defeat, the Czech handball players took a decent step towards playing at the World Championship, which will be held next January in Croatia, Denmark and Norway, after ten years. “We’re only halfway through. It will still be difficult, but I believe that with the support of the stands, we will fight for promotion,” hopes the Spanish coach.

Rematch is scheduled for Sunday at 4:30 p.m. in Brno’s Winning Group arena. “Romania has its own quality. They showed us that they don’t give away skin for free. But now we go home with an acceptable result. The fans will give us extra energy, they will be our seventh player on the field. Hopefully we won’t disappoint them,” Piroch concluded.