Coincidentally, Romania start in the Qualifiers phase 2 against Portugal (Thursday 7 November, 20:00 CET), in a special match for Grigoras, who is currently nursing an injury and will hope to deliver good performances in the doubleheader against Portugal and Poland this week.
Portugal, who now have more experience than Romania in major international competitions, as well as in the top club competitions, such as the Machineseeker EHF Champions League and the EHF European League Men, will start as big favourites.
“They have a very good team. If you look at their core, there are players from mostly Sporting and FC Porto, teams which have had good runs in the top club competitions in Europe. There are some from Benfica too, which I know well. But the system in Portugal is different from what we have in Romania,” adds the 31-year-old right back.
“Here, the players are taught even from an early age to play an aggressive defence, to try and steal the balls and then launch fast breaks, where the wings are already in the opposing half of the court. You can see their results in the younger age categories, they have a lot of talent. And young players chime in.”
But this is where the experience of some players, including Grigoras, takes over. Romania are not the pushovers they were a few years ago, courtesy of the development started by Xavi Pascual, the current Veszprém HC coach, and continued by the current coach, George Buricea.
“The EURO in Germany, this January, was a fantastic experience for many of us. For all of us, because it was our first major international competition. There was a lot of emotion, a lot of desire and, despite losing three matches, we learnt a lot,” adds Grigoras.
