Spain hope for happier ending on return to sadness

At the 2021 IHF Men's World Championship, Spain overcame their disappointment of losing a crunch semi-final against eventual champions Denmark by taking bronze with a victory over France.

This had come after gold at the previous two European Championships (2018, 2020). Jordi Ribera's squad would win bronze at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games a few months later, and a 2022 European silver followed shortly afterwards.

Spain start their 2023 IHF Men's World Championship campaign in Krakow, Poland. With it, emotions and memories return of another European silver in this current period of six podiums in the last nine major championships.

At the 2016 European Championship final, held in the same Tauron Arena where Spain are now, they lost the final to Germany 24:17 after scoring just six goals in the first half.

And it still hurts.

"Being here brings difficult memories," said Spain's goalkeeper Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas, who was part of the squad seven years ago, to ihf.info.

"In 2016, I think we made the worst match I've ever played in at such a high level. Of course we won a medal, but it was such a bittersweet feeling."

"I remember last time it was not a good memory, but in the end we took a medal," added teammate Jorge Maqueda, who was also part of the team in 2016. "I hope that we will be there until the end (this time), but it is also too early to start thinking about this."

Their side have got off to the best possible start in Krakow in 2023, defeating Montenegro 30:25 in their opening match on Thursday, and face their second test in Poland against Chile this evening (Saturday 14 January).

"It's always very important to start the competition well," explained Maqueda about their opening win. "Everybody knows that the first match is so difficult because all the teams want to start with a win, but we play 100% the match against Montenegro.

"This victory is very important for us because we can continue to enjoy and suffer a little," he added with a smile.

Maqueda, who plays his club handball in France for EHF Champions League side HBC Nantes, is looking forward to testing his skills in Poland against teams from around the world, with the South Americans next, followed by an Asian side, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

"It's very good for us because we need to play all the styles against all the teams," said the right back, who has scored 24 times in the EHF Champions League this season. 

"It's good to prepare for those matches; Iran and Chile both play very well, and they will be difficult matches."

But Maqueda does not want to look too far ahead in this championship, and any talk about another medal, or even a Paris 2024 Olympic Games spot at Poland/Sweden 2023, is quickly dismissed.

"The plan is the next match," said the 34-year-old. "We only think about the next match. We have done this in all the tournaments and it has been very good for us, so we continue like this."

And his goalkeeper thinks exactly the same.

"We want to go one step at a time," said Pérez de Vargas, the only Spain-based club player (at FC Barcelona) in Ribera's squad of 20 at Poland/Sweden 2023.

"We don't want to look further than that. We know that if we play at our level, we're going to be competitive and we're going to have our chances to go far in this competition.

"But we need to go slowly, as we did in the past, and then we'll see what happens."

The past is to be learned about, the current to be experienced, and the future is not thought about.

On the 10-year anniversary of winning the 2013 IHF Men's World Championship at home, can Spain repeat the feat or add to their recent medal haul?

We will find out over the next few weeks.