Croatian national team coach Lino Červar responded to journalists’ questions before the match between Serbia and Croatia (Thursday, 18:00, RTS 1 – „Štark Arena“) at the most visited press conference for several years.
„It is not easy for us to play with the Serbian national team that I respect. Coach Perunicic is a great coach, as he was a player, gives a chance to young players, and he may even give up stronger names. I know this is a difficult moment, but the courage to pay off. It’s true that we are favorites, but qualifying matches are special, they have a special charge. If we want to achieve a good result tomorrow, we must explicitly play well. We do not have some players that are very important, but as a coach I have to dispose of what I have.
Tomorrow will be a complex game, psychically maybe more difficult for the host. We have respect for Serbia, we have shown this at last year’s championship as hosts, „Cervar said and commented on the Croatian path to success in the last two decades:“ If you want to be at the top, you have to be committed to what you are doing. In addition to my family, handball is everything to me and I can tell you that I invest greatly in myself. Once, my father came to watch the game, although I did not want him to come because I am very aggressive, emotional, sometimes bad behavior. When we came home, I asked him why he came to the game. He said he came to see if I could lead people. „I saw that you can, but you will have many obstacles, to survive, you have to work a lot on yourself and always be a step ahead.“
This is the secret my father pointed out and which I lead. Chervar also commented on the game of the Serbian team:
– The Serbian national team in some games played very well and threatened the results with stronger teams. They had a lot of enthusiasm, winning wishes and I liked it very much in the match with Switzerland in the qualifications. This was shown by the fighting spirit of the Croatian national team, Lino Červar responded to journalists’ questions before the match between Serbia and Croatia (Thursday, 18:00, RTS 1 – „Štark Arena“) at the most visited media conference for several years. „It is not easy for us to play with the national team Serbia I respect. Coach Perunicic is a great coach, as he was a player, gives a chance to young players, and he may even give up stronger names. I know this is a difficult moment, but the courage to pay off. It’s true that we are favorites, but qualifying matches are special, they have a special charge. If we want to achieve a good result tomorrow, we must explicitly play well. We do not have some players that are very important, but as a coach I have to dispose of what I have. Tomorrow will be a complex game, psychically maybe more difficult for the host. We have respect for Serbia, we have shown this at last year’s championship as hosts, „Cervar said and commented on the Croatian path to success in the last two decades:“ If you want to be at the top, you have to be committed to what you are doing. In addition to my family, handball is everything to me and I can tell you that I invest greatly in myself. Once, my father came to watch the game, although I did not want him to come because I am very aggressive, emotional, sometimes bad behavior. When we came home, I asked him why he came to the game. He said he came to see if I could lead people. „I saw that you can, but you will have many obstacles, to survive, you have to work a lot on yourself and always be a step ahead.“ This is the secret my father pointed out and which I lead.
Chervar also commented on the game of the Serbian team:
– The Serbian national team in some games played very well and threatened the results with stronger teams. They had a lot of enthusiasm, winning wishes and I liked it very much in the match with Switzerland in the qualifications. There was a fighting spirit here
Nenad Perunicic, his assistant Nedeljko Jovanovic, was selected by his coach Nenad Perunicic, head coach: – Unfortunately, our big problem is a young team, as well as a lack of time. Only on Tuesday morning we did a complete training. Bogdan Radivojević did a bit stronger training last night. As I said already, Croatia is a favorite for everything that has been done in the last 20 years or more. Except for France, Spain, Denmark, they are in 90% of the cases favorites. That does not mean that we do not have our chance. We are young, we have the energy – said Perunicic and added: – If we look at the results, we are not all happy. I’m not looking for an alibi for a moment. I believe in the guys I choose. At the time you make the change of generations, those results are then a problem, although I did not emphasize those things. We strive to bring the whole functioning between us to a higher level. We try to take care of every little thing. I am absolutely behind every failure, in front of my players. Of course, I want and I would like to have more time, patience, but I will not even deviate from my ideas: respect for the shirt, the cult of representation. Fair relationship. In the tomorrow’s match, we certainly have the imperative of winning. I have no pressure, I played big matches. I’m trying to get the young guys out. For them are lessons, for me they are defeated, until they are dead, I am there for them. I think we make a long-term story, which will last, not for a short time. We are not afraid of anyone, no matter how strong your opponent is, and even Croatia with great players and leaders such as Duvnjak, with respect and respect for the opponent.Peruničić replied to the question about moving from „Pionir“ to „Štark Arena“ : – I will respond briefly and I will not be able to talk more about this topic. I stand personal. Yesterday we had a hard hit like a sport. Like every time I talked with the guys and we will try to draw only positive things from everything „Nedeljko Jovanovic, assistant coach of Perunicic: – Sure, the situation is specific. He had a long tradition of good handball with Croatia. We all know that Croatia is the favorite in tomorrow’s match. They have better, more experienced players who are quality, for many years on both club and representative scene. We should not forget that the sport does not always win, we hope that tomorrow is the day when, as a young team to be formed, we will have the strength to resist Croatia. We have problems with the time when it comes to training and preparations for the match. It’s the same with the Croats. The big thing is that a large number of fans come to the hall. I think that Serbian handball is very important for this match, and it will be much to depend on the completion of qualifications. We are happy that the guys came to the gathering, they are in a good mood, they are healthy, „Jovanovic said, adding,“ For the first time, I have a live opportunity to listen to the way Cervar thinks and works. He said that the coach had to be constantly proven as a human being. That’s exactly the most important thing for every athlete. Against Belgium we played solidly, in the end we dropped a point, against Switzerland poorer and lost. We must constantly fight to achieve this plan that the coach Perunucic has. I think that’s the only way to progress. We have experience of the World Cup, a certain number of players played in front of a full hall, every second day there. This experience will certainly bear fruit in our next actions. The first one is tomorrow. There are three more games ahead of us, we will not give up, we want to go to the European Championship.
