The ‘Guerreras’, forced to react against Poland
Spain, without its captain Silvia Navarro, is playing a lot on the second day of the European
MADRID, 6 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish women’s handball team will face Poland on Monday (8:30 p.m.) on the second day of the first phase of the 2022 European Championship, a start that has already become vital after the defeat in the premiere against host Montenegro, in a highly demanding Group D, in search of points.
The European does not forgive and less in a group that promised before to be demanding. Saturday’s debut was hard and even cruel because, in addition to the bad game and the bad feelings, it left the captain Silvia Navarro seriously injured. The immense goal of the ‘Guerreras’, one of the flags and mothers of the success and prestige of Spanish women’s handball, said goodbye to the European Championship.
After the tests, on Sunday the worst prognosis was confirmed: rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and the internal meniscus of his left knee. The Valencian shrunk the hearts of her teammates just before half-time against Montenegro, with the game still alive despite a poor first half in attack.
However, the nerves and imbalances continued after the restart, in the midst of the hostile environment, and Spain ended up suffering a heavy defeat (30-23). Now, back at the Moraca Sports Center in Podgorica, José Ignacio Prades’ men are forced to bring out their competitive gene and grow, once again, in the face of adversity, to score the first points against Poland.
The Polish team, led by Arne Senstad, also has a lot at stake, as they lost Saturday’s debut against Germany by a tight 23-25. In the history between the two teams, out of 30 meetings, Spain won 20 and lost 10, although the last official meeting was in the 2014 European Championship, 29-22 on the first day of a tournament that would end with the ‘Guerreras’ silver. .
Prades recognized in the preview the aspect of “authentic final” of the meeting despite being only the second day. “We face it as a new opportunity to do things better. We know what we are playing for, they are 2 very necessary points,” he said in statements provided by the Royal Spanish Handball Federation (RFEBM), collected by Europa Press.
“We have to criticize ourselves and recover our spirits and confidence because we have no choice but to get up. It’s a very demanding Championship that doesn’t give you time to complain. On the other hand, we must improve our launch efficiency to suffer less in the withdrawal and recover our defensive level”, he added.
SPAIN: Mercedes Castellanos (P), Maddi Aalla (P), Alicia Fernandez, Carmen Fields, Esther Arrojeria, Lara Gonzalez, Shandy Barbosa, Almudena Rodriguez, Irene Espinola, Paula Arcos, Jennifer Gutierrez, Soledad Lopez, Paula Valdivia, Maitane Etxeberria Kaba Gassama, Lysa Tchaptchet and Alba Spugnini.
POLONIA: Placzek (P), Zima (P), Maliczkiewicz (P), Olek, Galinska, Labuda, Kobylinska, Balsam, Wiertelak, Matuszczyk, Rosiak, Nosek, Michalak, Kochaniak-Sala, Andruszak, Achruk y Nocum.
–REFEREES: Prastalo and Balvan.
–PAVILLION: Moraca Sports Center in Podgorica.
–TIME: 8:30 p.m./Telesport.
