Daniel Dujshebaev, prepared to step forward with the ‘Hispanics’

El ltimo lance de Daniel Dujshebaev In a World Championship, the one two years ago in Denmark, he was absent for ten months. In an action without an opponent at the end of the game against Germany, the last of the ‘main round’, the youngest of the Dujshebaev saga broke the cruciate ligament in his right knee and also injured the medial meniscus.

A patient, painstaking rehabilitation allowed him to reappear in good condition and on time to join the team that won the second European title a year ago. But in between he had missed quite a few international matches, which would have come in handy to gain more specific weight in the selection.

2020 was not conducive to it either. Postponement of competitions apart, several quarantines due to infections in his club, the Polish Kielce, they prevented him from adding internationalities. But to their 23 toYes, Daniel seems already ripe to become a fixture in the national team, in which he played a wild card entering and leaving during the three major competitions that he has played with the ‘Hispanics’ – the aforementioned World Cup and two Europeans – since 2018.

There is even a finer physical change in him that enhances his 1.97 meters, qualities that are not abundant in Spanish handball. “Over the years you value the physical aspect more. You share changing rooms with great players, you see how they work and that drives you to do it. I am improving day by day,” explains Dujshebaev before the match. start of the World Cup for Hispanics, today against Brazil.

He barely remembers the serious injury that temporarily cut his progression. “Yes, fortunately it is forgotten. I was lucky enough to surround myself with the right people during rehabilitation. I would have liked to reappear sooner but they were very cautious and thanks to that since the day I returned I have felt well and I have no sequelae.”

In the only preparatory match for the Spanish national team, against Croatia, Daniel was seen with very clear ideas, playing for the team, replicating to some extent the role that Joan Caellas has played in recent years in the national team. “The three games we played in Qatar helped me pick up the pace and I feel very comfortable and confident,” he confesses.

“We bet on him. He was the youngest player we incorporated, even before the Junior World Cup in 2017, not yet with performance, but with the prospect that he would bring us it in the future with the experience he was given,” he recalls Jordi Ribera the first steps of the youngest of the Dujshebaevs in the senior team. “In his club now he has more prominence and that is reproduced in the national team. He is versatile, he can play as a winger and center-back depending on the needs. And in defense he can also alternate between second and third places. We try to make him comfortable in any of the positions that we need you “.

The player does not disgust anything. His father and coach at Kielce, Talant, maintains that despite his body he has more soul and qualities as a central defender than as a full back.; who prefers to give a good pass, a goal assist, to shoot him, although he does not lack an arm.

“It may be true, but I can fulfill both positions,” says Daniel. “At the club, due to casualties and quarantines, I had to play minutes as a winger and I feel comfortable in both. The selection lacks a more winger profile and due to my physical conditions I can function in that position. We all want to play in the team. selection, wherever, and if I am given the opportunity to do it on the wing, I am delighted. I think I can contribute to the selection, both in attack and defense. At the club I intervene more minutes in defense because of the type of players there are. there, and every time I feel more comfortable. Here the two pillars are still Viran [Morros] y Geden [Guardiola], but I think I am ready to help whenever the coach sees fit. ”

Once The coach announced today the 16 players he is registering to start the World Cup-Iosu Goi and Sergey Hernnez are left out of the start- Daniel Dujshebaev has already met the conditions to get a permanent position, as did his brother Alex at his age. “It is the coach’s decision. It depends on how he sees things. He decides what is best for the team. I would like to be in all the games, but we will see how the championship unfolds. He never knows what your sports career will bring you and you have to seize every opportunity. But in the end, the important thing is the team’s victories. ”