Handball-EM: DHB opponent Macedonia: The pyro-man and his warriors

In the last preliminary round game at the European Championship in Croatia against Macedonia (18.15 hrs in LIVETICKER) Germany urgently need a win to get closer to the dream of the semi-finals. But the defending champion must be warned: the Macedonians are bursting with self-confidence.

The newspapers are full of reports about the handball heroes, everywhere you can see pictures of Kiril Lazarov & Co. Already on Tuesday evening, the colours red and yellow were common in the city centre of Zagreb.

The whole of Macedonia are in feverish shape after their two victories against Slovenia (25:24) and Montenegro (29:28). Handball is once again the clear number one in this small landlocked country, which has only 2.081 million inhabitants.

The celebrated hero of the upswing is a Spaniard named Raul Gonzalez Gutierrez. The 48-year-old coach from Valladolid, who took over the post of Lino Cervar, who returned to Croatia in April last year, is revered in the Macedonian media as a “pyro-man” who has ensured that the whole country is burning for handball again.

Raul Gonzalez is a big shot in handball. He was already admired as a playmaker who wore Spain’s national jersey 57 times and played for his home club BM Valladolid for 18 years.

“As a player, he was perfect and at the same time special. He played incredibly smart. I’m still showing my players videos of Raul as a player,”said former Barcelona coach Manolo Cadenas about Raul Gonzalez.

In 2017, Raul Gonzalez led Vardar Skopje sensationally to victory in the Champions League. The former assistant coach will take over from Talant Dujshebaev near Paris Saint-Germain this summer. He replaces Noka Serdarusic, a French club with a million members, and will receive a contract until 2021.

“Raul Gonzalez is a top trainer,”says Macedonia’s popular hero Kiril Lazarov enthusiastically:”We have our Macedonian style and when Raul became our coach, he improved this style. He has also introduced some Spanish elements.”

This includes, for example, a tough, uncompromising defence. The bronze medallist from the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta went his own way to build a bulwark for the Macedonian national team.

Raul Gonzalez got Ace Jonovski back for it. The 37-year-old, who has been playing as a professional through Europe for 18 years, has meanwhile only played in the fourth German league in Ratingen, but is still able to make a brutal effort. Result: In the first two games he was on the table for 27 and 33 minutes.

“Raul Gonzalez said, looking at the final,” We can only survive with an outstanding defence against Germany and added:”But we can survive.

In addition to the defence, Macedonia has a remarkable team of goalkeepers. In the first two games, Nikola Mitrevski, who is now under contract with Constanta in Romania, was convincing. Behind him lurks Borko Ristovski, the man in the service of FC Barcelona, who is the real number one.

And also in the attack, Macedonia has its qualities. The days when everything depended on goalkeeper Kiril Lazarov are over. Although the right backroom player has not lost anything from his “lust to want to score goals”, as his team mate from Nantes, Dominik Klein, knows to report.

The best thrower so far has been Dejan Manaskov (Veszprem) on the left with 12 goals, followed by Kiril Lazarov (11). Playmaker Filip Mirkulovski (Wetzlar), Filip Taleski (RN Löwen, Rückraum links), Filip Kuzmanovski (Metalurg Skopje, Rückraum links), Filip Lazarov (Besiktas, Rückraum links) or roundabout Stoilov (Vardar Skopje) were also decisive for our good start into the European Championship.

Against the DHB team, the first big coup is to be made. Macedonia has a great opportunity to enter the main round in Varazdin with a sensational four-point win.

The point is that Germany doesn’t have those two or three players who are the focus of everything. In my opinion, Germany has about 20 players who can all play at a similar, very high level. That’s a huge advantage. In addition, the team knows how to win a big title from the European Championship 2016 in Poland. This mix of experience and high quality in breadth is what makes it so special, that’s why the Germans are so dangerous,”said Kiril Lazarov in an interview with SPOX before the European Championships.

But Mitrevski expressed what a team can do to win two such close matches at the start of a tournament:”Self-confidence has grown and is now enormous. We are warriors and we know what awaits us in the duel with Germany. And we also know that we’re good enough to win this duel.”