After Croatia's victory over Brazil, their coach Davor Dominikovic, spoke to IHF.info about the match, his team and the emotions of competing in a world championship.

IHF.info: You were behind Brazil up to four goals at a time during the first half and went into the break one goal down, but eventually you came back to win. What does that say about your opponents and also about your players?

David Dominikovic: We played against a very good team. The first half that Brazil showed in their win against Portugal was really a warning not just for us, but for everybody. 

Their senior team also showed during Germany/Denmark 2019 that they are a very good team and we respect them very much. 

We prepared very well for the different kind of things they would be playing but we started the game very bad and were five goals behind. However, the players kept their heads and didn’t stop believing that they could do it. 

In the first half we used a lot of strength to make back these goals to equalise but in the second half we played with great defence with a great goalkeeper behind them. 

My players kept believing – they didn’t lose their faith and the team wanted it, every guy who went on from the bench got his minutes and I must say in the second half in the middle of defence we were expecting more one against ones and that’s why we tried to help the people in the middle and that’s the reason why the defence was so good.

IHF.info: At times, Brazil’s open, pressing defence saw players defending as high as the halfway line, did you expect this and how pleased were you with your team in dealing with this tactic?

David Dominikovic: I was very, very happy with how my players responded to the defence from Brazil. We are not used to playing against a defence like this, as in Europe you play mostly against a 6:0 line, so what we, as the coaching staff, had said before the game the players kept in mind very well. 

Our centre back (Filip Vistorop) was leading the team during the match with his head, with a 100% concentration, and that was the reason why we were successful against this defence.

IHF.info: You have played debutants Kosovo and now a resurgent Brazil side. How exciting is it to test yourself against such a variety of teams with different experience, coming from different parts of the world at a world championship?

David Dominikovic: There is no easy team here and no easy win. Against Kosovo, who are in their first championship it wasn’t easy, and they were leading by the 15th minute. 

We needed to struggle to be on our top level if we wanted to win the match though.

IHF.info: Your players showed their emotions during the match, smiling, encouraging and showing passion. How important is that for you to see?

David Dominikovic: We want emotions because if there is no emotion there is no joy for them so then why are we here? Everyone needs to enjoy and that’s what I said before the match to them; go, smile and enjoy the game. This is the reason why they started to play handball. It’s a world championship, with TV, as a player what more do you want?