• Interview. Cañellas: "Although we win, handball in Spain will not improve; it is humiliating"

The handball, in its simplicity, can be summed up in two styles. Either it is played to throw, to collide, to crawl with everything, to the gross, or it is played to compose, to move, to look for the hollow, with style. Always, Germany represents strength and finesse, Spain. But, of course, not everything is so simple. France has been dominating the sport for decades with a more or less balanced combination of both methodologies - depending on the time - and many other selections have sublimated one or the other handball. On the side of the players next to Spain, Slovenia is usually and that predicts difficulties, many difficulties, tonight (8.30 pm, Teledeporte) in the semifinal of the European. Despite some failures, such as the 2016 European final lost to Germany, Spain has always enjoyed the teams of giants, those who posed a war, and suffered from art, the tactical challenge, and this time it does not seem that It will be different. How difficult it is to know oneself, to gain oneself.

“It is clear that Slovenia's strong point is its creativity. Almost all of his players are creators, even the far right, Blaz Janc , could play center. That presents us with a challenge, but we will be prepared, ”the coach Jordi Ribera analyzed yesterday in the bowels of an icy Stockholm Tele2 Arena. The venue, built to house football matches, with a retractable roof, has been separated in two to adapt to handball and the feeling is frankly cold. In the first semifinal, which faces Norway and Croatia (6 pm), Norwegians will be filled, but then in the game of Spain it is expected to be disrupted. "The great danger of Slovenia is that they know perfectly what their strengths are and what their weaknesses are and that makes it difficult to attack them," said Captain Raul Entrerríos , tired, but prepared. Nobody will miss the appointment, not even Alex Dujshebaev , who before Croatia took a blow to the right knee.

Both selections are supposed to be matched, but there is one factor that makes Spain the favorite: the experience. While the national team is the current champion and has played the last five European semifinals, the majority with the same players, Slovenia enjoys the second semifinal of its history, the first since 2004, when it finished second at home. The generation that led then Uros Zorman gave way to the current one, where the benchmark is Jure Dolenec , side of Barcelona and also stand the central Dean Bombac , teammate of Joan Cañellas in the Pick Szeged or Borut Mackovsek , side of Veszprem. Under the direction of the Swedish Ljubomir Vranjes , who came to his bench makes a sigh, on December 17, Slovenia wants to place Spain before the mirror and there find its flaws, make it dizzy, overcome it from the delicacy. Handball is sometimes simple.

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