We talked with the head coach Ivica Barbarić about the conclusions after the qualifications and qualifying for the Elite Round, and the expectations and opponents in this round of the competition, France, the Czech Republic and Sweden.
“Every group is difficult, and the one we are in is extremely strong. We have France, which finished the first round with all the victories, then the Czech Republic, which played a draw only one match, and Sweden, which had one defeat. Through this Elite qualifying round, it will be difficult to achieve a qualification for the European Championship, but what I would like is for us to turn to ourselves and focus on how we will prepare. We should use this period until the beginning of the competition to prepare as well as possible, so that when the matches start, we should be maximally concentrated on the game and the opponents.”
Head coach, the junior national team that you have been leading since the spring of this year, has achieved great success by qualifying for the Elite Round from the first position. What are the conclusions and what did you notice in their performances during the qualifying tournament?
“Practically, since the fourth month when we made the first gatherings and played friendly matches, we started selecting players between the U-18 and U-19 age categories and, what is important, we managed to choose the best ones, those who will be able to respond to the system and style of play. I have to say that we were lucky in selecting the players and I think we made a good choice and a quality team, and that we can strengthen even better during these three months.”
What style of play did you try to develop with this generation of players?
“From the beginning, my idea was for it to be a 4-4-2 system and variants, both offensive and defensive, because it is the most acceptable system for all players. Also, the system requires compactness and solidarity, which means that through these offensive and defensive variants we can adapt to the opponent and, in certain situations, we can play with a withdrawn side, against stronger national teams and have a good transition, but not to hesitate to perform high pressure against weaker opponents. We have made a lot of progress here and I expect it to be even better.”
During the year, a number of friendly matches were played, how useful was it for you in creating a team and selecting the best players who came out with qualifiers?
“It was very useful, primarily because of the problems caused by Covid and this complete epidemiological situation. I consciously invited a large number of players from the domestic championship and later, when the situation allowed, a large number of foreigners. It is normal that in those situations I am exposed to bad results, which there were, considering that you select and create a team through matches. However, I am glad that in the end we managed to create a team that successfully responded to the tasks and that we showed very good football at the tournament and deservedly won that first place.”
