Slovenia was better opponent in this Last 16 match
Statements from the mixed zone after Slovenia beat Macedonia 30:28
Borko Ristovski (MKD):
"Slovenia were better than us and deserved to win this match, mainly thanks to their great goalkeeper. I am very disappointed that we are out now, but we didn't deserve to go further today."
Stojanche Stoilov (MKD):
"We missed too many chances, while Slovenia were much cooler and more clever around the goal. In addition, their goalkeeper really secured them the victory."
Uros Zorman (SLO):
"Today we showed that we can play and we can play well. We won because we played well in defense, had good fast breaks and we can't forget our goalkeeper. We don't think about it at the moment and we don't care who will come next. It is Jordan in basketball and Beckham in football."
Dragan Gajic (SLO):
"We played well: our heads were cold, our hearts hot. We had our best performance in Qatar here today, now we can relax before the quarter-finals. It's just team play, team spirit and it's our hearts. We have to play with emotion like we played today; if you do that, we are really hard to beat. We have reached our goal here in Qatar, which was to be in the top eight best teams."
David Spiler (SLO)
"It is an amazing feeling to win a game and advance to the quarter-finals, staying in the tournament and keep our hopes alive for a spot in the Olympics is great. First of all I have to say that we played better than Macedonia, we kept the lead in the whole game and we deserved to win. I think that our determination and mental stability have been the crucial factors for us today. We ranked fourth in the previous World Championship and I hope that we can get a medal here. We will probably play against France, who are the favourites, but the favourites do not win all the time."
Luka Zvizej (SLO)
"We performed well in defence and our goalkeeper made many important saves. We were leading during the whole match and I think that we won fairly. We had determination and fighting spirit, we are enough strong and play for our national pride. Don't underestimate us!b We will take it one game at a time. Our first goal was to make it to the eighth-finals, then to advance to the quarterfinals and now to fight for winning a medal and go to the Olympics."
Miha Zvizej (SLO)
"Compared to the team which ranked fourth in the 2013 World Championship, I think we are better now. We have more experience, more quality and the whole team is still progressing. It will be tough whoever the opponent is, either France or Argentina. Most probably we will play against France, who are an outstanding team. I am playing there in Toulouse and I know how good they are. This is going to be a special situation for me and it will give me extra motivation."
Nemanja Pribak (MKD)
"It is hard to have lost in an eighth-final, but this is a fact, we can't change that. Whoever said before the match that the performance of the goalkeepers would be crucial was absolutely right. The Slovenian goalkeeper was outstanding and didn't allow us to score many. We didn't play well in the first half and although we tried to pull some goals back it didn't work out. No doubt, I am very disappointed with our loss and elimination. But, to be honest, I think that the Slovenians deserved to win tonight. They have players of high class, a good coach and organisation plus experience. I hope that they get a medal here."
