Slovenia’s Uros Zorman in action against Macedonia during their Eighth-Final match in Doha on Sunday. (AFP)

Back in 2004, Slovenia hosted the 6th Men’s European Handball Championship and managed to reach the final, where they lost 30-25 to Germany. This has been and still is a historical moment for the whole country having never managed to reach the podium before this in any major handball event.   
Because of this monumental medal, and, in addition to the fourth place they got at the 2013 World Championship in Zaragoza, Slovenian handball has been the breadwinner for team sports in Slovenia. Thus their celebrations and how they spoke about what it means to them and their country to beat FYRO Macedonia (30-28) are reasonable.
While entering the mixed zone, Uros Zorman howled, “Come on, how could I stay cool, after such a great victory? It was the most important game up until now and it has opened our path to the quarter-finals. It is all about redemption which we were searching for after a couple of bad games like our losses to Qatar and to Spain, and also we wanted to get over the negative comments from the media.”
The Slovenian centre back who turned 35 in January is the long-time teammate of Vid Kavticnik and Gorazd Skof; they are the only three survivors from that 2004 team. Four games away from reaching 200 international caps, Zorman is the captain of the team and has a special reason to play at full strength. “As a captain I don’t have the right to deny my responsibilities,” he said. “I was feeling guilty about our performances here and I had the duty to play better and lead my teammates. Fortunately, it has worked out and I am very happy and proud of what we have done here today.”
Not only Zorman, who is now playing for KS Vive Targi Kielce in Poland, but the whole team was playing under huge pressure before this “do-or-die” match against Macedonia.
“For various reasons we had lots of pressure and this affected our performance. Maybe we feared something; I don’t know what that was exactly. The day before the game we all sat together at the hotel and had a long conversation about what we were going to be facing. It was an extremely useful talk which helped us to play much better and make it to the quarter-finals.”
Apart from the tactics, the quality and the experience of their side, Zorman believes that they had other “weapons” at their disposal in this crucial battle against Macedonia. “Hot hearts, clear minds, fighting spirits, good egoism and pride all helped us and they came from deep inside of us. I would say that rather than being a team victory, it was a family victory!”
From the tactical point of view, Zorman pointed out that “we played a very effective defence, scored with fast breaks and since we are a short team, we got great help from the previously injured Klemen Cehte, who is a very good shooter from the back court and has recently come back into the team”.
After beating FYRO Macedonia, the Slovenians are looking forward to playing France.
“We have accomplished our first objective, to play in the quarter-finals, but this is not enough. Probably France will be the team to beat and I strongly believe that we can give them a surprise. Right now our self-confidence and optimism are at the highest point. We feel that we can enter the court and fly.”  
After all, Zorman feels that he needs to pay respect not only to his 16-year career with the national team, but to his jersey number as well. The so-called “Zut” wears number 23, “so I can stand next to Michael Jordan, Lebron James and David Beckham” he said with a laugh.