“The third consecutive gold is a beautiful challenge, but the pressure is already standard”
MADRID, 12 One. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Navarrese Eduardo Gurbindo does not hide the “rush” that supposes him to return to play a great international appointment with the Spanish handball team, the European Championship in Hungary and Slovakia that begins this Thursday and where they have “the beautiful challenge” of conquering the third consecutive gold, although that does not put pressure on them because it is “” already standard “in a team that” must be given a lot of value for what it has done in recent years. “
“I’m really looking forward to it, it’s one more experience on my back. During the last European and the last World Cup I had a fairly long injury from which I came out and the fact of counting again for the Games and again for this European always helps and It motivates me to continue. I am already 34 years old, we all know that one’s sports career is going to end and that these are the last years, but I want to enjoy them to the fullest and this gives me a rush, “Gurbindo said in statements to Europa Press.
The Navarrese, who has 146 caps, debuted with the ‘Hispanos’ at the hand of Valero Rivera in 2009 and lived his first big date at the 2010 European Championship, counting since then also for Manolo Cadenas and Jordi Ribera. “That is an illusion because with each one it is a different challenge and a different way of playing,” he admitted.
“It is true that in some championships I have not been able to be due to injury or because they have not counted on me, but I have enjoyed many, to know many experiences and to take medals. They are eleven years full of positive things and I would like to continue a little more because it is always a joy and an honor to come here, and see the desire and how we enjoy, “added the full-back.
A member of the 2018 European champion team, Gurbindo is now focused on shining in the defense of the title achieved two years ago. If they succeed, they will match what Sweden achieved between 1998 and 2002, but neither that nor being the current champions gives them an extra responsibility because “each championship is different”. “It is a beautiful challenge, but the pressure is already standard. Each one, individually and in groups, is demanding and we know what we are up to and what we want to aspire to, without putting more pressure on ourselves than we should,” he said.
“We have to go game by game. We will see how the championship develops because the debut puts you a little in your place and then it is to evolve. Starting winning is very important to gain confidence because there are nine games until the final and it sounds easy, but it is fatigue, preparation or the fact that you lose a game and you have to know how to overcome yourself. In an 18-day championship there are good moments, but also bad ones, which are the ones that the team must be more united, “stressed the one from Pamplona.
The international is clear that they have “the challenge and the hope of continuing up there”, but without forgetting that “with each passing year it is more difficult to get a medal”. “Especially in a European, where there is no easy opponent, everyone is reinforced and handball is becoming more physical,” he said.
“THE GENERATIONAL RELIEF MUST BE SEEN AS SOMETHING NORMAL”
In addition, the ‘Hispanics’ have faced “a change” because Raúl Entrerríos, Viran Morros, Dani Sarmiento and Julen Aginagalde are no longer present, as well as the Dujshebaev brothers, and new players have arrived who “although they have a lack of experience, they replace it with enthusiasm. and illusion “. “We are prepared and united, what we do, for better or for worse, will be as a team,” he remarked.
In this sense, Gurbindo wants to downplay this replacement, firstly because Ribera “is a coach who knows exactly what he wants and who, in addition to working with the Absolute, does it with the quarry.” “All the people who are integrating come with the system learned and with clear concepts and it is easier,” he said. Second, because the replacement “is something logical.” “I do not think you have to have many doubts or think that it is difficult, but to see it as something normal,” he remarked.
“I have played a lot with Raúl, Viran, Dani and Julen and now it is also a challenge to do it with others and adapt to different situations, it is positive and I like this type of thing. All changes are complicated, not only for Spain, and these new people must take more responsibility and gain experience “, stressed the Dinamo Bucharest player.
In addition, the current European champion stands out for being a block and not for its individualities. “If it is not the one with the largest team, one of the most”, acknowledges the Navarrese, who does not hide that other teams “have very powerful and individually very good people who can score 8 or 9 goals”, but for those who it may weigh in the end that “they play 50 minutes per game”.
“In Spain, many years ago we had more determined and physically superior people, but now we are all of a similar profile and we all contribute our grain of sand so that the result is good,” explained the full-back, who also knows that “each game is to life or death “and that is why” rotations “that are so characteristic in the national team are so important. “Every minute you rest counts, and reaching the final phase fresh is a guarantee,” he stressed.
“THE TRAJECTORY OF THIS LAST DECADE IS BRUTAL”
And within a “very demanding” calendar, with the third major competition in a year after the World Cup and the Games, “plus everything that is behind at club level”, the Navarrese full-back asks to give “a lot of value to what has made this selection in recent years. ” “As in most cases, if you win a medal you are good and if you are not bad, but since 2012 it has been in the semifinals and winning medals in four Europeans in a row, it is a brutal trajectory what has been done in this last decade”, detailed.
Finally, on a personal level, he confesses that he would not mind ending his career in a Spanish handball that he left in 2016. “I would be lying if I said that I had not thought about it. I have now been at Dinamo for three years and then we have talked a bit with the family of come back, but you don’t know how you are going to be in two years physically, if I will have the desire or the opportunity to continue in a good team, or if you sacrifice those last two years and for example return to Pamplona and play calmer at home, “he said .
“I have valued everything, but there are still two and a half years left and perhaps it is better to go little by little and see how I am physically and emotionally and if I want to continue. I am excited to stretch my career as much as possible as long as I do not drag myself into the track “, he sentenced with a smile.