István Gulyás: We have nothing to be ashamed of, we can be satisfied with the last two and a half years

"Even though we didn't advance, we have nothing to be ashamed of," said head coach István Gulyás at the official press conference, where we asked him for a summary. "We knew what was in store for us in these three games and that the teams represent a very even force at the European Championship. Our advancement or our better performance depended on nuances. We can't be angry with anyone, we've achieved good results together, and we're bitter together. What we've planned of transforming the team and creating a young squad, we've achieved that, and we're playing good handball. We can be satisfied with the last two and a half years even though we leave a bad taste in our mouth now.”

According to team leader László Nagy, Iceland did not surprise us, we got exactly what we were preparing for; they fought a lot in defense.

"The problem was the realignment in the first place, we got a lot of goals from fast breaks. If we had eliminated them, the result could have been different. We had lost possession of the ball multiple times, and the opponent ran over us. We wanted to stop them, but the players didn't help their teammates enough in defense. The team wanted to win, it fought hard, but in the end, we could not take the lead," said the vice-president of the Hungarian federation.

Chema Rodríguez told Hungarian journalists in the interview aisle that the players were under a lot of pressure on the home court, and that the opening match against the Dutch only put an even greater burden on the team.

“The fans were incredible throughout the group stage, but sometimes the domestic environment was too much pressure for the team. We have many young players who don't play these high-quality matches week in and week out; sometimes it's hard for them to handle that kind of pressure. We got off to a bad start in the first game, so the pressure on us only increased, which resulted in more mistakes. If you make too many mistakes against such strong teams as the ones we met in the group, you will lose in the end," the Hungarian national team coach began his quick evaluation.

He didn't see a problem with our attacking game, we scored around 30 goals in every game. We had more problems in front of our own goal.

"We had a problem with matches against the Netherlands and Iceland, and our big players struggled to cope with their opponents who dribbled well. We tried to improve on it, but we still had a lot of problems with it, that's the truth. It was hard to catch the short players who always put one foot inside the six-meter line, for which they blew penalties, even when they had no chance of scoring," added Rodríguez, who did not want to deal specifically with the referees.

“Unfortunately, because of the pressure at home, we couldn't show what the team is really capable of. The first defeat pulled us down, and then we were forced to win. We played better in the second and third games, but that wasn't enough. When we started working together, the main goal was the domestic European Championship, where we wanted to create something memorable. Sometimes, however, things don't turn out the way you wanted them to, even though you're doing everything you can. We can be proud of the players because they gave everything they could to succeed. We need to look at why we failed and how we can improve for the next tournament – with or without us,” he said at the end, referring to the fate of the staff, adding that he is not thinking about the future yet. It is time for analysis first.

The Hungarian national team was ninth at the previous European Championship, fifth at last year's World Championship, and won the Euro Cup. This time we finished 15th overall, behind the target of top 8, after the Czech Republic and Serbia (that also finished third in their respective groups) are ahead of us. Hungary's 13th European Championship participation is their weakest ranking, we have been 14th twice before. (The continental tournament consisted of 12 teams between 1994 and 2000, 16 teams between 2002 and 2018, and 24 since 2020.)

The 15th place also means we have just got away without having to play in the first qualifying round of the 2023 World Championship, but we will not be seeded in the draw for the second round.

Translated by Vanda Orosz