NEW COACH OF BUDUCNOST T-MOBILE GYULA ZSIGA TALKS WITH EHFCL.COM AFTER FIRST FRIENDLY MATCHES


After three weeks of hard work (including up to four training sessions per day) in Rozaje and Podgorica, it was time for the first friendly matches for Buducnost T-Mobile. The Montenegrin Champion played the first match against the men’s youth team of Lovcen (without counting the result), and then, last weekend in the “Moraca” hall, Buducnost played against Serbian Champion Naisa. The team claimed victory in the two matches, the first, a clear win with 37:26, and the second by 29:27.

Although his team twice defeated Naisa, Gyula Zsiga, head coach of Buducnost T-Mobile, couldn’t be satisfied with the second match, in which Buducnost was behind for most of the second half, but in the final minutes managed to win.

After the second game, the new coach of Buducnost talked with ehfCL.com about the first games in the preparation period.

ehfCL.com: What are your first impressions of Buducnost’s play?

Gyula Zsiga: The attitude and the emotions of all the girls were very good in the first game. It was not the case in the second match. I think this is because the team was tired after working very hard over the past three weeks. So, at this time is too early to give a clear opinion about the team, because we still don’t have the good cooperation between the players. But, that is normal in this period of preparation, having no time to practice that in training, and also because there are some new players in the team. Anyway, in the second game with Naisa there were a lot of individual mistakes, and I am not happy with that. I was much more satisfied after the first match, and in this moment I don’t understand what happened in such a short time between two games, especially with the middle players.

ehfCL.com: What is your philosophy of handball, what kind of play you want to see from your team, in this case from Buducnost T-Mobile?

Gyula Zsiga: My handball philosophy is “run, jump and shoot”. Every day we are training those single elements. Later, at the tournaments, we will work to improve our play on the whole.

ehfCL.com: In this moment you have a lot of problems in the team. Two weeks ago, line player Tihana Ambros, coming from the Spanish Puertoduce Roquetas, injured her right hand, and she will be out for ten more days. Andjela Dragutinovic has just begun to run again after a side injury in April, and the other new face in Buducnost, Russian Liudmila Mochalina, due the travel issues, joined late the team and she is obviously behind in the preparation.

Gyula Zsiga: It’s a big problem that Tihana is out of training, because she is a very important player for our defence, and I hope she will be back on the court soon. Mochalina didn’t practice during the summer holiday, which is wrong, and her physical condition is very bad at this moment.

ehfCL.com: On Thursday, Buducnost T-Mobile is traveling to Ukraine, to Zaporozhye, to play its first international tournament in the preparation period. Buducnost will play five games, with the host team Motor, Polish SPR Lublin, Turkish Milli Piyango, and the Russian teams Dinamo and Rostov. After that, Buducnost is going to Croatia, to play the tournament with Podravka, Krim Mercator and FKC from Denmark. Eight games in total, but is this enough to improve the game?

Gyula Zsiga: What is certain is that we will have the chance to play quality teams and to see the good and bad sides of our play in order to prepare in the proper way for the start in the European Champions’ League.

ehfCL.com: How far can go Buducnost in this year’s European Champions’ League?

Gyula Zsiga: I would like to do better than last year, which means to go into the best eight, and to do well in the regional league. This is my dream, and I think the girls want the same result.