“Iceland Air” on the ground

22 September was a very painful day for Gummersbach’s top scorer, Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson: in the Bundesliga match against Balingen he fell on his shoulder and after the first diagnosis it was sure: “Goggi” will miss the next months and has to operated. Gummersbach’s Icelandic coach, Alfred Gislasson, not only had to solve the replacement of his former playmaker, Daniel Narcissse (currently playing for Chambery), but also that of his most important “weapon” in fast breaks, “Mister Iceland Air”.

Nevertheless, Gummersbach won all their CL matches. On the other hand, they lost several important points in the Bundesliga, for example on Sunday at home against Lemgo. Sigurdsson still hopes to see better times also in the national league – as he says in this interview with Eurohandball.com.

Eurohandball.com: How’s your shoulder, Mr. Sigurdsson?

Sigurdsson: It’s getting better day by day. Last week I had a lot of pain and could not sleep, but now it looks already better.

Eurohandball.com: It must be a difficult period for you…

Sigurdsson: I see this situation from a different perspective: all over the world much more people have worse problems than mine. A serious illnesses or something else… So I am nearly healthy, except for my shoulder and my family is doing well. It’s hard to accept, that I can not play at the moment, but I always think in a positive way.

Eurohandball.com: Do you visit the training sessions?

Sigurdsson: In the morning I have my rehabilitation programme, but in the evenings I try to see the rest of the team. I like to laugh with my friends and so I will not return as a “stranger” in a few months’ time when I will be able to play again.

Eurohandball.com: Can you help the team in this situation?

Sigurdsson: No, I think I can’t help. This is the job of our coach. I speak a lot, sometimes too much, and I have to give the others a credit that the players still listen to me.

Eurohandball.com: Are you satisfied with the matches you had to watch from the tribune?

Sigurdsson: I did not miss a single match in the last four years on court, so it’s very hard for me and a strange feeling to sit outside. But I think the team did their best, all the players fight hard for success.

Eurohandball.com: What were your impressions as a spectator?

Sigurdsson: The team are improving with every match. Every player comes in and helps, the new players get integrated even better. The team plays as a team: this is the most important thing.

Eurohandball.com: In the Bundesliga Gummersbach cannot be satisfied with the performance up to now…

Sigurdsson: Flensburg, Kiel and Hamburg are on a different level. There is Mannheim following them. Many other teams such as Nordhorn, Lemgo, Magdeburg and Gummersbach nearly have the same strength. We have to get the points against these teams. We have the chance to win against every team, but it’s hard to keep the pace with a club such as Kiel for a whole season. We will do anything for our objective to qualify for the Champions League again.

Eurohandball.com: In the Champions League it looks quite different. After three victories from three matches, VfL are on top despite being in of the hardest groups…

Sigurdsson: I think we will beat Reykjavik at home, but the matches in Veszprém and Celje will be very tough. But maybe we are also able to get one or more points there. And then we would reach the second group phase. This would be a greatsuccess for our club.