Qatar coach Julian Gomez with his boys during a 2015 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship match.

IHF/Yekaterinburg, Russia

Qatar were one of the last teams to have their Eighth-Finals hopes crushed when the final whistle blew in the group phase at the 2015 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship. After a disappointing first game against Denmark, followed by much stronger performances in their remaining preliminary round games, beginning with a win against Switzerland, the Asian side were sent to the President’s Cup when they lost to hosts Russia in their last Group D match on Friday.
But Qatar coach Julian Gomez feels that his team was on par with other teams in their group throughout the preliminary round. “I think we played face to face with the best teams in Europe, but our problem is the seven metres, even with different players. But I think my team fought really well,” Gomez said.
As with the senior and junior teams in the previous IHF Men’s World Championships this year, Qatar’s teams have shown one of their strengths — their goalkeepers. At the 24th Men’s World Championship in January, keepers Danijel Saric and Goran Stojanovic were key in Qatar’s silver medal-winning performance.
At the 2015 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship in Brazil, Rasheed Yusuff and Berzad Demirovic proved to be interchangeable, with both causing serious trouble for their opponent’s shooters. In their ninth-place play-off against Brazil, Yusuff saved two shots in the penalty shootout that ended the match in their favour.
At the 2015 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, the Asian side showed they once again have solid players between the posts. Ahmed Abdelrhem in particular has been exceptional, on the court for most of the group phase to finish the preliminary round with a 36.6% save rate.
Abdelrhem caught the eye of Vice-President of the Handball Federation of Russia and medal-winning legend, Andrey Lavrov, with the former world-class goalkeeper naming him as one of three young keepers he has been particularly impressed with so far at this championship. The other two were Denmark’s Emil Nielsen (45.8% after the preliminary round) and Iceland’s Gretar Gudjonsson (33.9% cumulative save rate for the phase).
IHF.info spoke with coach Gomez about the approach to goalkeeping in Qatar and about the mentality of players in that position.
Excerpts from the interview:

IHF.info: At all three of the men’s world championships this year Qatar’s keepers have stood out as a key for the team’s performance. What are you doing in Qatar that’s so special?
Julian Gomez: We have good coaches for goalkeepers, but it’s also because it’s absolutely different. The physique of Arabic people can play very, very well – it’s very easy for him in this position. There’s no need to worry about the defence – no need. And he can play very good, very good as a goalkeeper.
This player especially (Ahmed Abdelrhem) – and also the player of the junior team (Rasheed Yusuff)  – are workers. Every day they are working very, very hard.

IHF.info: Do you have one goalkeeper coach that works with all the teams, or do the goalkeepers work together?
Julian Gomez: We have two trainers for the goalkeepers. We have here one coach who works with this group, this age, and he works with the juniors when the first coach of the goalkeepers is with the senior team. We work in Qatar like a team. It’s not important [who works with which players]. Next month, in September, I will go with my second here – he will be the first – I will go as second to play one tournament in Saudi Arabia. We are a group, we are a team. Maybe today you are with the juniors and tomorrow you go with the goalkeepers.

IHF.info: Do you train together then?
Julian Gomez: No, not together because normally we have different targets. For example, one month maybe the junior team is in Spain to prepare for the World Championship and after they go to Brazil when we begin to prepare. But we are together because the halls, the buildings where we can train are absolutely amazing. We have many, many halls, many courts, and always we are together in the training. It’s very good for training and to work in this country.
The problem with the players is a different matter – because it’s a little country we don’t have many players.

IHF.info: At the other men’s world championships this year Qatar’s keepers have been almost interchangeable – it does not matter which is in goal, they have always been a big challenge for the opposing team to shoot against. Can we expect the same from your second goalkeeper here, who we haven’t seen much on court yet?
Julian Gomez: Yes, but we don’t speak about first or second goalkeeper – it’s a team. For example, we thought for the shooters of Switzerland this goalkeeper [Abdhelrhem] is better, but maybe after tomorrow we’ll change. Normally I have of course the responsibility but my assistant, the coach of the goalkeepers, might say to me: ‘I think this for the next matches.’ And it’s a team.

IHF.info: What are the different strengths between your goalkeepers?
Julian Gomez: Yes, they are different. For example the ‘second’ is Yugoslavian schooled. This player – the ‘first’ – is Arabic schooled. They are different skills, different styles.
Also, if we have 6-0, for example, in defence, one goalkeeper is better. When we play 5-1 or 3-2-1 maybe we choose another.

IHF.info: Can you explain the difference between Arabic and Yugoslavian goalkeeping styles?
Julian Gomez: It’s very different. For example this goalkeeper [Abdelrhem], his stronger points are his mentality and his faster movements. With the other [Bilal Lepenica], the most important thing for him is his position in relation with the defence. He’s more tactical.

IHF.info: What do you think of the psychology of someone that chooses to play goalkeeper? Some people in handball like to say, affectionately, that goalkeepers are crazy.
Julian Gomez: No, never crazy. Maybe it is the position that needs more intelligence to analyse the shooters, the position. They are not crazy, no – but really, really I don’t understand their mentality [laughing]. For me a goalkeeper is like a martian.

IHF.info: When a goalkeeper is having a bad day the coach usually takes them off the court. Do you think it’s very difficult for them to pull themselves up when they are having trouble making saves?
Julian Gomez: It’s very difficult because as a [court] player maybe today you have a bad day for shooting but you can pass, you can do a very good job in defence. The goalkeeper will save or not save. It’s a special psychology of the goalkeeper, and they need all the support. We try to give all the support, especially because these are goalkeepers and young – they need support, need help, need all the coaches around them to understand their position.

IHF.info: How does it change as they get older? People can play goalkeeper well for a very long time – usually only getting better as they age.
Julian Gomez: Because the goalkeeper always analyses, always knows every shooter, he can play many, many times. For example, the Vice President of Russian Federation [Lavrov] was my player in Germany for many, many years. But he’s better because he knows absolutely where every player of the league shoots. He has a computer in his head.