Bratislava, 13 January – Quotes from Poland head coach Patryk Rombel (POL), left wing and team captain Przemyslav Krajewski (POL) and line player Kamil Syprzak (POL) at a media call on Thursday.
Patryk Rombel (POL) – coach
On the current Covid-19 situation in his team:
“We are still waiting for today’s final test results. What we know is that five players and one staff member were tested positive. So we were unable to have our training session yesterday. We hope that we can train before our first match, but we have to wait.”
On the expectations for the preliminary round:
“We only focus on Austria, as we already said before that this is the most important match for us.”
Przemyslav Krajewski (POL) – left wing and team captain
On the atmosphere in the team:
“Due to the positive [Covid-19] cases and the fact that we cannot train and prepare, the atmosphere is not good.”
On the opener against Austria:
“They are a strong team, we do not only have to take care of Nikola Bilyk, as they have many good players. We expect a really tough match, and we will see what we are capable of.”
Kamil Syprzak (POL) – line player
On the preparation for the opener:
“We have to prepare individually, everybody got his kind of homework and then we have to combine those things in the team meeting. We are gathering information at the moment.”
On his support of the young players as one of the most experienced ones:
“None of us ever faced a situation as we have now. We have to keep our heads up and of course I try to help the young players.”
On what to expect from the Polish team:
“At first, we want to play, this is most important. In general, the expectations are quite high. But at the moment everybody is waiting for the start of the tournament.”