22nd Men's Handball World Championship - Croatia - Poland 28:24 (13:11), postgame video interview with Piotr Wyszomirski and goalkeepers match stats

Postgame interview with the deputy goalkeeper Piotr Wyszomirski after Crotia - Poland game. His performance as well as Sławomir Szmal's belongs to the few positive sides of that game.

Szmal saved 42% of shots (15 of 36 attempts). He saved also two penalty shots and sucesfully stopped opponents in situations one to one a few times.

Wyszomirski replaced Szmal in 42'. He saved 46% of shots (6 of 13), one penalty shot and managed to save a shot in one to one situation.

But a goalkeeper can't win a game alone...

Wyszomirski o porażce z Chorwacją: coś pękło, zeszło z nas powietrze

It was really an important match for us, as if it was the final. We were fighting for the qualification to the Olympic Games. We are going to play another final two days later. We will see how it's going to turn out. I think we lacked the spirt, everyone had had a different expectations in the first place. We arrived on those Championships with other plan.

Something went wrong, we lacked the consequence in the attack and commited stupid mistakes in the defence. We had to chase the result again and that cost us dear. We were not able to catch up with the result and we lost.

Question: In your opinion that game could be won?

I think so. At the beggining Croats were very nervous. We also didn't look the best, but we lead the game at the beginning of the first half. So I think that if our counter-attacks had been sucessful and we had scored we would have had a chance. We could get clear lead and they would have to chase the result. I think we could have won this match.

22nd Men's Handball World Championship - Croatia - Poland 28:24 (13:11), postgame video interview with Sławomir Szmal

Szmal: w poprzednie mecze wkładaliśmy dużo serca. Dziś tego nie było

Szmal: We lack the spirit. It's as if something died down in us. We play without a faith in ourselves, in our team. In such moments it's as if we had already lost. It could be clearly seen in the second half when we were playing but without faith, simply speaking... Well, it's hard to judge it now.

Journalist: So what had happened with this fight? Because we come here with great hopes but we lost three of four matches against top teams.

Szmal: Well, with great hopes. For sure we come here to fight as we had said. No one did say that we came here with an intention to give up. I think that up to this moment we put our heart into the games. There were of course weak matches, when we didn't play the best but we really put our heart into them. I think we can't say the same today.

Journalist: I'm under an impression that today, first time since a long time, Croats were within the reach. That's why it hurts even more.

Szmal: Well, I think that they played in their own style. They worked out good situations to score and here Piotrek [Wyszomirski, the deputy goalkeeper] deserves to be praised. Also the defence in the first half was good, the lads were fighting. Unfortunately, there were too much counter-attacks in the second half and it's always disheartening for a goalkeeper.

Journalist: We are on the fourth place in this group. This means "a game of everything" awaits us, because the seventh place on the tournament guarantees us a right to play in the elimination for the Olympic Games. The eighth will not.

Another journalist: It's as if it was a final.

Szmal: Actually it was also a final today. If we had won today we needn't to worry any more. We would play for the fifth place. Unfortunately we didn't managed to win. I hope we will pull ourselves together and we are going to play a good game.

Journalist: Most likely it's going to be Hungary. So it's an opponent which is theoretically weaker. Seems we are going to be the favourite.

Szmal: On those Championships we can't really judge who is weaker or not. As we had said before we should think about ourselves, belive in ourselves and give 100 per cent of ourselves.

22nd Men's Handball World Championship - Poland - Sweden 21:24 (12:14), video interview with Sławomir Szmal

After a hard, exhausting and even game Sweden won with Poland 24:21.

Postgame interview with Polish goalkeeper Sławomir Szmal, whose amazing saves allowed to keep up Poland's hopes to tie the game. Unfortunately too much mistakes in the attack didn't allowed to sucessed one more time.

Sweden, as well as Poland and Argentina qualifed to the second round of the Championships. In the group they are going to play against Serbia, Croatia and Denmark.

Szmal: Zabrakło koncentracji i woli walki

Our plan was to play aggressively because we know the opponent, we had know that the main threat are Andersson and Kaellman. We were suppoused to play offensive and harshly. Unfortunately, they managed to come off on good postions. We commited a number of mistakes in attack and they answered with counterattacks. In today's match we lacked consistency and the will to win. We had a real chance to win today with Swedes on their home soil, watched by 12 000 audience.

We had a few situations when we had a one man advantage but we didn't used it. Normally we should win in such moments by scoring two goals. There was a situation when we had a chance to tie the game but unfortunately we were losing the ball. Against such a opponent on their home soil it's impossible to win a game.

Having such an audience, when Swedes fans were cheering for their team, there were moments when only the Polish supporters could be heard. It should give us strength but unfortunately in those crucial moments we failed.

22nd Men's Handball World Championship - Poland - South Korea 25:20 (10:11)

On Tuesday Poland won with South Korea. The first half was hard, but in the second Polish team took the lead and was dominating on the pitch.

Goalkeeper Sławomir Szmal, whose performance was very good, was chosen the best player of the match.

Surprisingly Argentina won with Sweden, which means that today game is going to be really hard for the host's team. If they lose today they are not going to have any points from the first round despite qualifing to the second.

Picspam of the game.

22nd Men's Handball World Championship - Poland - Chile 38:23 (15:13)

Poland beat Chile 38:23. Finally a fine victory. The first half didn't look the best, although Poland lead for the most of the time, but in the second the team rushed to the attack. Chile's defence played well at the beginning, but then Polish players found a way to go through it and also to stop opponents' attack.

Quite good game for the goalkeepers Sławomir Szmal and Piotr Wyszomirski. Both had to face penalties and they managed to save one each. Szmal was very good at the beginning of the first half, made a few good saves.

Wyszomirski played the second half. His biggest mistakes were quite unfortunate passes, which were snatched by the opponents (fortunately not used well in the most dangerous situation, the ball was thrown into the empty goal, but hit the post). However, overall he saved around 50% of shots.

Tommorrow Poland against South Korea. It's not going to be easy...

Poland - Czech Republic (33:32), New Year's Tournament in Gdynia, 7.01.11, videos

Went to watch a handball games a week ago on the New Year's Tournament in Gdynia. Enjoyed both, Slovakia against Hungary and Poland against Czech Republic. Took some video footage during the latest.

Polish handball team before Poland - Czech Republic game (Gdynia, 7.01.11)



Warm-up session







Piotr Wyszomirski's warm-up session



Poland - Czech Republic game





The end of the match, Karol Bielecki is named the best Polish player of the game



I have also loads of photos but still need some time to chose the best ones.

22nd Men's Handball World Championship - Poland - Slovakia 35:33 (15:17)

After an even and hard game Poland won with Slovakia 35:33. It has nothing in common with the game on New Year's Tournament in Gdynia, where Poland snatched the lead easily and kept it till the final whistle. Slovakia surprised Polish team, and even took the lead on the end of the first half.

In the second half Polish team reduced the distance and took the lead. At 50' was five goals ahead. Slovakia didn't gave up and at two minutes before the final whistle it was only one goal difference. However, goals of Bielecki and Jurecki guaranteed Poland the first victory on the Championships.

As for the goalkeepers - Sławomir Szmal showed a glimpse of his skills especially in the second half and made good saves in the cruacial moments, when Poland was fighthing to catch up with Slovakia. Piotr Wyszmirski appeared on for a while.

As for Slovakia's side. I expected Richard Štochl to be better, actually. Then Martin Pramuk changed him, a total surprise (he was not playing on the Tournament in Gdynia) and was one of the best players on the pitch, made really stunning saves. For sure it was his day, even if Slovakia didn't won the game.

Would do a proper picspam but don't have time for this now.

Today next game: Poland against Argentina.

Handball, Euro 2012 qualifiers: Poland vs Ukraine 23-15, 28 Nov 2010

Polish national handball team started the Euro 2012 qualifications well and registered the first victory. Although they did struggle a bit with Ukraine defence in the first half, they almost completely dominated the game in the second. Good defence helped to keep the advantage, and Polish goalkeeper, Sławomir Szmal, made a lot of great saves.

Piotr Wyszomirski substitued Sławomir Szmal near the end of the second half, and played the last 11 minutes. He started from making a great save.











Polish coach, Bogdan Wenda





Karol Bielecki was back to the team. He suffered a severe eye injury during a friendly match against Croatia in June. Despite the surgeries his left eye remained blind. Although he officially announced the end of his career, he changed his mind a few days later and decided to continue playing. Now he uses special goggles.





Unfortunately no photo of the Polish goalies from the game. So, a photo from Euro 2010.



Goalkeepers Sławomir Szmal (right) and Piotr Wyszomirski (left) celebrate with a team mate Mariusz Jurkiewicz after the match against Czech Republic, 26 January 2010. Poland won 35:34.

Today Poland is going to play qualifier against Portugal.

Sławomir Szmal - world's best handball player of 2009

Polish handballer Sławomir Szmal was chosen IHF World Player of the Year. He is the goalkeeper of the Polish national team. He is amazing, especially when it comes to saving in situations one to one.

In Euro 2010 Polish team finished on 4th place. Szmal's performance was outstanding. Will never forget dramatic third place playoff with Iceland. Poland's situation was hopless, everything went very, very wrong, and in the first half they were losing 18:10. And then in the second half Szmal defended six or seven goals in the row. Amazing. Poland eventually lost, but the team was fighting till the last moment. Szmal was chosen the best goalkeeper of the tournament.