National team coach Andy Schmid takes stock in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency after the 33:25 victory against Italy in the final World Cup match.
25.01.2025, 19:52
25.01.2025, 21:02
SDA
Andy Schmid, you said before the game against Italy that it was important to get the last few centiliters left in the tank onto the pitch. Apparently there was still quite a bit left in the tank.
I have to be honest and say that I'm surprised myself at how much passion everyone brought to the pitch again, how they fought in defense, how they helped each other. Lenny (Rubin) once again led the way up front, but I don't want to single anyone out. The game sums up the whole tournament.
It was your first World Cup as a coach. How much energy did the tournament take out of you?
Extremely much. It was also uncertain for me what would happen. Preparing and following up a match every two days was a mental strain for me, although the two assistants supported me enormously. It's a completely different kind of stress to being a player. I was worried 24/7. That's why I'm happy with myself, knowing that I need to improve a few things. Before the World Cup, I was perhaps a little too focused on a game plan and made one or two wrong decisions during the games with substitutions and moves. However, we definitely took a big step forward with the team, which makes me extremely happy. To be honest, the ranking is not so important to me, but the overall impression, the performance, the joy of playing, the commitment. That inspires me.
Hand on heart, did you expect the team to finish in the top 12?
I wasn't too worried about the ranking, we just really wanted to reach the main round. That was a hugely important step for us, especially as we were only there thanks to a wild card. I have a lot of confidence in this team, but only if the players do what they can do and what sets them apart and I do my bit too.
What made you most proud?
The consistency over six games. We improved certain things in every game. Before the tournament, we talked a lot about technical mistakes, of which we had made far too many at the Yellow Cup. I can see that one cog is meshing with the other. We are flexible and variable in our attacking play. In our cover, we define target players where we want to finish. That worked very well, also because we had a good goalkeeper in all six games.
It was astonishing how mature the team, the youngest of the tournament, was. That was not to be expected in this form.
In handball, a lot happens in your head, about how you see yourself, how you deal with mistakes, how you deal with negative actions. We have a lot of conversations to get a feel for how the players feel, what actions they are comfortable with. I try to be at their side in every situation, whether on or off the pitch, to support them.
What significance does this great World Cup have for Swiss handball?
The trees don't grow into the sky. Not everything will run smoothly over the next few years. But it's a sign that we can compete at this level, that we can keep up with teams that are ranked far ahead of us. We only lost against the Olympic champions (Denmark/28:39) and the Olympic runners-up (Germany/29:31). We were the better team against the latter. It's almost a bit surreal. But when a high jumper clears a certain height, he's always judged by it, and that applies to us too. It's important to me that we now keep both feet on the ground.
