Chile’s Marco Oneto in action during their 24th Handball World Championships match against Chile on Saturday. (EPA)
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Chileans are very proud to call their country “the nation of poets”, including the Nobel prize laureates in literature Pablo Neruda and Gabriella Mistral. It is also a country decorated by some famous footballers, tennis players and last, but not least, lots of ‘national heroes’ performing in their traditional sports, such as rodeo and chueca.
“But unfortunately we are not (national heros) and we will never become a country of handball,” said Marco Antonio Zuniga Oneto, who expressed his disappointment after Chile lost to Slovenia, 36-23 on Friday at their World Championship’s opener held at the Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah Arena.
The Chileans were at one stage only one goal behind at 15:14, but the Slovenians scored nine without reply turning the game on its head with the score reading 24:14. This put the result beyond doubt for the Slovenians as they cruised to the final whistle.
“Compared to us, they have much more talent and professionalism in their ranks,” commented Oneta. “They know how to play in certain situations at this level and that is the main difference between a good and sympathetic team and a really great one. Fortunately, we will learn our lessons from this big loss and play better in the next games.
“I want to make progress in this, our third straight participation at the World Championship, I don’t want to take steps backwards and disappoint the Chilean handball family. We are not a big family like in other sports and in other countries, but there is some love for the sport there.”
Chile ranked 22nd at the 2011 World Championship and 23rd two years later in Spain, while they came third at the 2010, 2012 and 2014 Pan-American Handball Championships. “We are happy with our performance in the Americas, but there is a big gap in the quality of the sport between continental and international level. Playing in the Americas you can come back after being down by 6 or 7 goals, but here, playing against the elite, it is impossible,” added the 33-year-old pivot of German club of Minden.
Chile have no illusions at all. “Reality has nothing to do with ambition” Oneto said. “One way or another, this World Championship is going to teach us good lessons about who we are as a team. I am not a pessimistic man, but we have to recover (from the loss) as soon as possible and try to maintain our reputation by performing well in the upcoming games.
“We are competing in our third straight World Championship and this is a kind of medal for us.”
He is right. Chile have never played in three consecutive FIFA World Cups and they have just one participation in the FIVB World Championship, while they haven’t made it to a FIBA World Cup since 1959.
“We are the most successful team sport in the modern history of Chile, this is not something to underestimate, but, compared to soccer, basketball and volleyball, we lack support and money. The government gives us some help, but we need sponsors and better conditions in order to build a strong and competitive national league. We only have few professionals who play outside Chile, and the others are all amateurs.”
Oneto was disappointed by the way his team surrendered in the opening game, but he still puts faith in his squad. “We love handball and I think that the sport is suitable to the Chilean temperament. On the other hand, we lack experience and maturity and we don’t know to react in some situations, but I hope that the new generation can change this.”
Being the veteran of the team, Oneto sounds like the ‘voice of reason’ of Chilean handball. After the three Feuchtmann brothers left the national team due to personal reasons, and with Patricio Martinez and Victor Donoso also not in Qatar, Oneto is seen as the rock of Chilean handball. “Handball is my life,” he admitted. “First I tried to play basketball, but I realised that it was too soft for me, so I moved to handball and found my sport.”
Besides that, Oneto looks like the guarantor of continuity for his beloved sport. A few months ago he paid all the expenses for three 17-year-old kids to move from Chile to Minden, Germany. “I brought them to Minden for three months so that they could practice with my club, gain experience on how handball is being played in Europe. Hopefully our new generation can up their game and reach a whole new level.”
