An up and down match against Angola last time out saw Slovenia with a foot in the win, draw and loss camp on numerous occasions in the last quarter and when they were standing in the losing section, their 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship was in doubt.

Angola needed a win and to hope for some help from Montenegro later against France, but in the end, Slovenia did enough, drawing 25:25 to seal a main round place and go some way to putting memories of their lowest-ever ranking (19th) at an IHF Women’s World Championship last time out behind them.

“We knew it would be a really tough match, we know how strong the Angola players are and how they play with the line players. It's a big plus for them, this physical capability, but we were preparing so much for them and we knew how important the win would be for us,” said Slovenia centre back Elizabeth Omoregie to ihf.info.

“We were helping each other so much in defence and the defence brings us this result in the end. It was a really hard game but with team spirit everything is easier.”

Having led for most of the first half, Slovenia found themselves behind at the break (13:14) suddenly and needed some advice from new coach Dragan Adzic in the pause.

“Coach said to us that in positional defence we let in fast-breaks too easy; we were not focusing on returning back and they were coming and scoring easy goals,” explained Omoregie. “In attack we were scoring, were good and organised, but they were scoring easy goals and we corrected it in such a way.

“It was crazy,” added Omoregie about the swing back and forth between the teams towards the end. 

“It was important that we were good in defence still but in attack, when we had one player more, we could maybe have used it in a better way but in the end, it was a draw and we didn't lose.

“It was very good for our team spirit and that we continued in this competition with a draw and not a loss – it is very important.”

That team spirit is evidenced through how former Montenegro coach Adzic in his first championship with his new side has turned around the team since their Japanese disappointment, which included a special opening day victory against his former side. 

“He motivates us every day and this is very important for us,” said the 25-year-old Omoregie. “He puts our confidence high. He shows that he believes in us in every single second and that everybody is important in the team no matter who you are and what name you have. When the games come, you really know that you have the coach support, that he believes and trusts in you 100%.

“Everybody that is on the court gives whatever she has even if it's two minutes on and then after two minutes you go out. He really bring this new energy and makes us feel that we are the best.

“He motivates every day with whatever he has and this is the point: all the time he says that it's on us. It doesn't matter about the other team even if you play against France, the Olympic champions or whatever. It's only on us how we start how we believe in ourselves. Every time he says: ‘the sky's the limit’, so this is it.”

A glance at Slovenia Omoregie’s statistics from Spain 2021 so far shows in her three games, just two goals, five shots and an hour on court in total (1:13:09).

The CSM Bucuresti player did spend just over half the time on court against both Montenegro and Angola which is nothing out of the ordinary but with just five minutes against France it highlighted that, along with captain Ana Gros, Omoregie has been lacking 100% fitness in Spain.

“I have some medical issues with my knees and sometimes it's good, sometimes not,” she explained.

“It is an old injury that I cannot really fix right now, but at least I help my team in defence and in defence we win the game.

“I'm very happy that I do what I can and I play for this team,” added the Greece-born player who lived in Bulgaria before moving to Slovenia and gaining citizenship. “Slovenia means a lot for me. I started my professional career there and of course if I would like to play for any national team, I will do it for Slovenia because I feel like a payback – I do it with honour and I'm so happy.

“I know the girls [in the squad] from before and we are enjoying on court, plus it's also good that somehow we are the same generation but we have a lot of work to do and we have much more to show.”

Any interview relating to Slovenian women’s handball is almost impossible without mentioning Gros at least once, so what does Omoregie feel about the influential right back, who has surpassed 600 goals for her country at Spain 2021?

“I like her so much,” says a beaming Omoregie. “It's really an honour to play with her, with her experience of being in the national team for so long.

“For us, it means a lot when she's on the court and when she supports us. We like to do a lot of things for her so she come and she shoots, but also, with the attention she has on court – with two, three players on her – the rest [of us] have the opportunity to play easier and to score easy goals.”

Slovenia will now face RHF, Poland and Serbia in Main Round Group I in Granollers but are not thinking about the future too much.

“The coach was saying that we never think about the next day, the day is now and today,” explained Omoregie who started playing for RK Krim Mercator in 2014, before moving to Romania in 2018.

“We don't think forward, we give everything what we have now. We were really, really preparing for the games first with Montenegro, then France and Angola and never spoke about the other teams.

“Of course, our dream was to go forward and [now] we have the chance to go even further, but the one thing that coach has taught us is that it's today and really for today we'll give everything.

“Everything is possible if you prepare good, if we keep this team spirit, hard defence and good energy. This is the key.”