Almost four years have passed, but Dani Sarmiento admits, one of the referents of Spain, who remembers perfectly the corner of the Malmo Arena locker room where he cried the goal of Sweden that left them out of the 2016 Rio Games, the first Olympic absence of the selection since Montreal 1976. «When a team gets such a big disappointment, two paths open up: it can disintegrate and half of the players change or more can be joined. That is what happened to us. Since 2016 we continue the same because we have a debt with ourselves, our careers cannot end like this, ”acknowledges the central at the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm and with it all his teammates agree. The historic run that this Sunday (16.30 hours, Teledeporte) culminates before Croatia, this concatenation of three finals in a European, is explained mainly through that disappointment, although it has other reasons. Why does Spain dominate this tournament and not the World Cup, for example, where it did not reach the semifinals in 2017 or 2019?

The management of Jordi Ribera

We must start from a premise: handball is only played in Europe. While there are no easy matches in a European, the best players are required in all, in a World Cup there are friendlies in the initial stages. Before Saudi Arabia, Australia, Japan, Bahrain or Chile, continental powers can align their substitutes. That is why in a European the management of the minutes becomes more important and in that nobody improves the coach Jordi Ribera . Since its arrival on the bench in 2016, Spain is the team that rotates the most in its workforce and, for sample, this appointment. The one who has played the most minutes is Raúl Entrerríos , with 288 minutes, while the rest of the semifinalists, Croatia, Norway and Slovenia, have four or five players around 400 minutes. «When everyone participates, we have an advantage in the decisive moments. With eight or nine players it is very difficult to endure the rhythm that a European demands, ”analyzes Jorge Maqueda , who at first did not fit, because of his fearlessness, in Ribera's closed schemes, but who in these days has proven that he can do it.

The requirement of the Bundesliga and the things of France

«On December 26 I played with Rhein Neckar against Bergischer and on 27 I was already concentrated with Spain in Torrelavega. The Bundesliga demands a lot and a selection full of players who are in Germany has to cost him, ”adds Gideon Guardiola , the only Spaniard today in the best league in the world. The game style of the Bundesliga, so physical, and its calendar weights teams like Germany, Denmark or Sweden itself and forces them to choose specific tournaments, to compete only occasionally. The fatigue of its leaders and the short time to get together cause some ups and downs that Spain does not have. The team also helps that most of their players are in Barcelona or Polish Kielce, two teams that sweep their respective leagues. Then, in addition, there is the case of France: it dominates in Games and World Cups, but by its own decision or by negligence it hardly competes in the European that falls in the Olympic year.

The talent of the selection

The most important reason: Spain today brings together several of the best players in history, such as Raúl Entrerríos, Joan Cañellas or Julen Aguinagalde . It is the result of the evolution of the national handball, of the Barcelona of the Dream Team, of the disappeared Ciudad Real: the creation of a style that is linked to a work spirit. «We can talk about a thousand things. Luckily, for example. In the Europeans we have had the luck that we did not have in any World Cup, as in 2017, when it eliminated Croatia precisely in the quarterfinals for a goal. But if we are going to play the third European final followed, it is because we always work, ”Aguinagalde finishes at the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm before the last training to prepare for this Sunday's final against Croatia.

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