Handball European Championship: I hope we’ve passed the baptism of fire with it – István Gulyás

"We made a lot of mistakes in the beginning," István Gulyás told M4 Sport after the match. "This made us insecure, and our style of game became cramped. Everyone wanted to win, but there were some childish mistakes, and the Dutch took advantage of that."

"Everyone knew they were going to come at us,” the captain said to the question of whether or not he was surprised by the opponent's style. “We lost too many balls, we were slow, and maybe that's why we play in a cramped manner."

“I hope we've passed the baptism of fire with it. We were afraid of the game. We talked about it being a very special, very difficult match. I think we will be able to play handball much more calmly in the second match," Gulyás added.

"Maybe we wanted too much so badly," Richárd Bodó told M4 Sport. "I feel that there were bigger problems in our attacks and that our defense was acceptable. In the second half, we were a more focused team, but we ran after the result. We had two or three opportunities to save the game. There's more to us than that, we are capable of more. I'm really sorry it turned out this way."

"So many people came to the match we wanted to thank them with a win, but we couldn't. We must not give up, we've got the next game to win. I'm sure we'll play a lot better than this," the left back player added.

The big question is what will happen to Bence Bánhidi's ankle injury – the Pick Szeged's pivot player went through the interview zone limping. Understandably, he didn't want to stop for interviews but instead tried to get to the locker room as soon as possible.

Máté Lékai, who scored eight goals, enjoyed the atmosphere, which is why he regretted not being able to serve the fans.

"Of course, we wanted to win, but we started the match very badly," said the center back of Veszprém to Hungarian journalists. "We didn't do what we had to do, we were undisciplined, we intercepted the ball in attack, or we missed the opportunity. In defense, we didn't close, even though we knew they didn't have great shooters. They rather built on their speed. Even though we attacked better in the second half, we couldn't turn the game around. They always found a goal and of course, we're disappointed.”

According to Lékai, they could only play one game before the European Championship and it may have contributed to the many mistakes, but also the excitement of the first match was a factor.

"Of course, these can only be excuses, because it is clear that we cannot make such mistakes even in our sleep," he continued. "I hope that on Sunday fans will support us in the same way, because we will need it very much. We want to please them and win, but we will have a very difficult job to do against Portugal.The number of interceptions must be reduced for sure."

I'm really sorry we left the court with a loss. The Dutch were ahead of us the whole time, for a long time, the draw was unattainable let alone taking the lead. Even though we discussed catching up quickly, we didn't stick to the tactics. Their style didn't fit us because they are short, aggressive, and we couldn't do anything about them. I'm terribly annoyed, but I have no choice other than to focus on the next game against the Portuguese. We drew the consequences, and we'll try to put our game together again," said Adrián Sipos.

WATCH THE SPECTACULAR OPENING CEREMONY HERE!

MEN'S EUROPEAN HANDBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

GROUP STAGES, ROUND 1

GROUP B
HUNGARY – NETHERLANDS 28–31 (10–13)
Budapest,MVM Dome,20 022spectators.R:Kurtagic, Wetterwik (Sweden)
HUNGARY:R. Mikler – P. Rodriguez 3, Máthé 5 (2), A. Sipos, Bánhidi 3, Szita, LÉKAI 8 (2).Substitutes:SZÉKELY (goalkeeper), Bóka 1, Topic 1, Hanusz 1, BODÓ 6, G. Ancsin, Ligetvári, M. Rosta.Head coach:István Gulyás
THE NETHERLANDS:RAVENSBERGEN – Schagen 3, SMITS 11 (5), L. STEINS 3, Benghanem 3, BAIJENS 7, Ten Velde 2, Adams.Substitutes:Schellekens (goalkeeper), Schoenacker 1, Sluijters, Jansen, Smit, Stavast 1, Boomhouwer.Head coach:Erlingur Richardsson
Evolution of the result.7^th m.: 2–5. 12th: 3–7. 19^th.: 5–10. 25^th: 7–12. 34^th: 14–15. 38^th: 14–18. 43^rd: 18–20. 50^th: 23–25. 53^rd: 25–26. 57^th: 28–28
Exclusions:10, and 10 minutes
7-meter throws:6/4, and 5/5

Translated by Vanda Orosz