Since 1990, when he played in the Yugoslav national team jersey for the first time at the World Cup, one of the best right-wingers of all time – in the late 1990s the IHF chose him in the ideal seven of the 20th century – Irfan Smajlagić is with Croatia in ’95. was a world runner-up as a player, he also played in ’97. in Japan, while ’03. took gold and ’05. silver as a coach in the Croatian national team. In order to come to Croatia at the World Cup in 2009, this time as the coach of Egypt, the country where this year’s championship is being played, which Smajlagić is following. Of course, with an emphasis on the Croatian national team.
How do you feel about the Croatian national team?
– How it looks? Changeable. The result is also bearable, with the game on the border – Smajlagić will openly, after the first round.
– We have the quality to allow ourselves to expand the roster for the entire tournament. As I calculate that all players who come to the national team have the necessary quality, the opportunity to give their contribution, I think that everyone must get a chance, especially when the opponents are not high world class ones.
As there have been no top teams so far, even though Qatar does not belong to the circle of complete outsiders, three points have been transferred to the second round and cannot make the performance successful.
– It is much more important that we did not use what this tournament system with 32 national teams offers you, we did not give a real chance to players who played less in the past and thus we do not have a clear picture of how much we can rely on them. Although it is not too late because the second round, apart from that match with Denmark, does not have any weight. I want to emphasize that I am not talking about rejuvenation here because it is a cliché for me. Those who have quality regardless of age must play in the national team, while we constantly forget that a player is not created there, but only promoted based on what he did at the club. And the way we profile players is weird because it’s not enough to put him to play, he needs to be trusted.
Croatia found itself in trouble because Karačić was not ready, while Cindrić left Egypt after the first game …
– If Cindrić and Karačić were there with Duvnjak, then the three of them would play unconscious. Now that we don’t have two, and the day will come when we won’t have Duvnjak either, we need to make a stronger roster, reach the width in which Duvnjak and / or Cindrić will give their contribution, but we can’t build on them forever. Mamic has been in the national team for years, he should be a real support, have more minutes, Sebetic has a quality that can be used, and now Martinovic is there. We have solutions, we should only believe in those solutions, and not degrade our right backs by putting Cupic in that position. That’s how clubs work. Because if Cupic can play it better, then why do we have them? It is not clear to me that fear of stumbling to come to some knowledge.
What can we expect in the continuation of the tournament?
– There is no need to talk about how everyone plays handball because at the same time the question should be asked how who plays it. I repeat, those matches must serve us to test our inner possibilities, to promote new players. And the national team will not create one Martinović who has been playing in the Bundesliga for three years, he just needs to fit in and the quality he has to use for the best possible result.
Smajlagic is bothered by something else.
– I have a feeling that we are constantly running away from the role of a handball superpower, we should be humble and happy to win Japan and Qatar. No, our guard must be victorious, we were world and Olympic champions. Of course, respect must exist, but in our country it has been turning into fear for some time. I don’t see anything wrong with playing in the role of a favorite in a tournament.
They are always the same anyway; France, Norway, Denmark, Spain …
– There is a circle of four or five national teams that are always candidates for medals. I would now add Hungary, which has a very interesting selection, promoting young players such as Dominik Mathe, a right back who gave the Germans eight goals. They have no fear and I like that, I think they are ready to step forward, to fight for a medal.
What do the French look like, who opened the World Cup with a victory against another favorite, Norway, and continued with victories?
– The French have a big roster by default, they do not suffer from the complex that young people have to play, but the best are currently playing. What to add to the fact that they are from the first medal in ’93. won 11 gold medals and have 11 medals from the last 14 world championships. It is the machine we had to be 10 years after the world and Olympic gold. And unfortunately we have not become what the Swedes or the French used to be – concluded Irfan Smajlagić.
