MADRID, 4 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish men’s handball team will play the traditional Spanish International Tournament starting this Thursday in Benidorm (Alicante), which serves as preparation for a big event, in this case the World Cup that Poland and Sweden will host in a few weeks.
The ‘Hispanics’, who will defend the third place achieved two years ago in Egypt, will thus refine their set-up for this championship against Romania, Bahrain and Argentina, their three rivals this year at the Palau d’Esports l’Illa from the Alicante town.
Jordi Ribera’s men will debut this Thursday against the Romanian team, the only one of the four TIE participants that did not qualify for this World Cup, while on Three Kings Day they will face the Asian and on the last day, the Argentine, in what will be his last touchstone on the track ahead of the World Cup debut on the 12th against Montenegro.
The current European runner-up met on December 26 to prepare for this World Championship and after the break to say goodbye to the year, they met again in Benidorm to prepare for the tournament and with the 18 chosen by the Catalan coach, who outline those who will play the appointment.
Thus, of the 21 initially mentioned, Ribera selected Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas, Rodrigo Corrales, Agustín Casado, Ian Tarrafeta, Daniel Dujshebaev, Joan Cañellas, Álex Dujshebaev, Jorge Maqueda, Imanol Garciandia, Ángel Fernández, Daniel Fernández, Ferran Solé, Kauldi Odriozola, Gedeón Guardiola, Adriá Figueras, Iñaki Peciña, Abel Serdio and Miguel Sánchez-Migallón. The three discarded were the goalkeeper Sergey Hernández, the winger Antonio Garcia and the winger Josep Folqués.
The captain of the ‘Hispanos’, Gideon Guardiola, acknowledged that they are “doing very good preparation.” “The intensity and quality are still very high, we are adjusting many things to get as good as possible and the ambition and desire of the team are very much alive,” he said in statements provided by the RFEBM.
The pivot, a native of Petrel (Alicante), was also happy to be able to play “close to home”. “It’s always special, especially when you play away from home for a long time, and having family and friends come, especially playing with the national team, makes it more special. I hope the atmosphere in the stands is very nice,” he said.
For his part, winger Ángel Fernández made it clear that they are “very eager to compete”. “What we want are matches, we are already tired of playing with each other. Let’s see if it goes well, people enjoy with us and we can win the tournament,” he warned.
The Cantabrian player knows that they already know their three rivals. “Surely they are going to make it difficult for us. We are going to try to configure the pieces and grease everything we have been preparing and get to the World Cup as well as possible,” he stressed.
-Thursday 5.
15:45: Argentina – Bahrain.
18:00: Spain – Romania.
-Friday the 6th.
16:45: Romania – Argentina.
19:00: Spain – Bahrain.
-Saturday 7.
15:45: Bahrain – Romania.
18:00: Spain – Argentina.
