Spain’s Joan Canellas in action during the Qatar 2015 24th Men’s Handball World Championship quarter-final match between Denmark and Spain at the Lusail Multipurpose Hall.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
When Joan Canellas was walking from the locker room to the field of play, the first person he met was Valero Rivera – and that may be proved a good sign for both of them.
The Spanish coach of the national team of Qatar was the one who led ‘La Roja’, including Canellas, all the way to win the gold medal at the 2013 World Championship, held on their home soil. Here in Doha the centre back of THW Kiel and his camaraderie are trying to defend the title won at the Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi, while Rivera has achieved a kind of miracle by taking the hosts to the top four.
What did your former national coach tell to you, while embracing each other?
Joan Canellas: A few typical things. I love him and he loves me and all of us. We have had great success together and these memories will last forever. We congratulated each other, wished each other good luck for the semi-finals and might meet again in the final on Sunday.
To advance to the final and have the chance to defend the title, you will have to beat France…
JC: They are a tremendous team, who have dominated the last decade. France are the reigning Olympic and European champions, a team of high quality and of outstanding class. You try to find some weaknesses and probably you fail to find one.
What do you consider the key points to defeat them tomorrow?
JC: Play better in offence than we did in the previous games. We must move the ball well and read the situations in order to score. Of course, defence is always needed, especially in a game which will be probable decided by a few details. We played defence aggressively versus Denmark and it was a key factor for us to survive and win it.
Is it Joan Canellas vs Nikola Karabatic?
JC: It is mainly Spain vs France. Yesterday it was Mikkel Hansen, tomorrow will be Nikola Karabatic, the other day might be another big player. But we are playing a team sport, in which the so called superstars have emerged throughout the success of their teams. However if I have to talk about Nikola, there is no doubt that he is one of the best players in the world and I have lots of respect for him.
How do you deal with the extra motivation to defend the world championship title from 2013?
JC: This is our target. We lived a dream two years ago in Barcelona and now we have come here to repeat it. This is a very difficult task, but we trust each other and I hope to go all the way to the top.
Spain vs France, it is a like final game?
JC: Spain vs Denmark was a like final game too. When you reach the top eight there are no easy games. You have to take them all serious and pretend that even a quarter-final was the gold medal match. This is the mentality as we approach it.
What do you think is the biggest weapon against France?
JC: They have the ‘know-how’, due to their class, experience and confidence. As Gary Lineker said once, the French are like the Germans in football. We can say that handball is a game in which fourteen men chase a ball for 60 minutes and at the end, the French always win.
Let’s see what happens today.
