Marković: There was a small but fantastic audience for whom my boys gave their all

Although weakened by the absence of several standard first-team players and in front of a small number of spectators, the BiH handball team defeated the favored Iceland (33:32) in the first match of the additional qualifiers for the 2015 World Championship. The coach of the handball team, Dragan Marković, told the Patria news agency that this is a great success and that it is not accidental, as they have been practically undefeated for the last 10 matches.

- The victory against Iceland is a great success for us. We have beaten great opponents like Germany, Latvia, Greece, etc., and now it was Iceland's turn, so they lost too. We have the second leg now, and I said a long time ago that we must aim for both victories. For some, the result might be insignificant, as we won by one goal, but I announced that a victory, even by one goal, was important to me. We are going all out in the second match – says Marković.

He further admits that BiH would have defeated Iceland by a larger margin if there had been more spectators in the "Mirza Delibašić" hall, but from this perspective, he does not blame the citizens for not coming to support the handball Dragons.

- The audience always adds three or four goals per game, but oh well. We had a small audience, but they were fantastic, even though it looked sparse in such a large hall. But it was enough for my players to give their all for them – added Marković.

Given that the match was also of a humanitarian nature, Marković was saddened that the people of Sarajevo did not respond to it, but he still believes that they have now attracted attention.

- Honestly, at first, I blamed the audience for not coming. But not now. We have been through difficult times, times of floods, football fever, the first Saturday when the sun was out, so people went outside, and we also entered the match too modestly, so perhaps we did not present ourselves enough – says Marković, explaining that everything they have achieved in the last ten matches is not accidental.

- We started beating the big ones too, even if by one goal – added Marković.