Zabaleta: I came with the ambition to lead Albania to the European Championship

The national team will play two important group matches in June within the qualifiers of the European Championship "Germany-2024". It must be said that the Reds and Blacks lost the first match in the group against Poland 1-0 in Warsaw in March and now they have to make a strong comeback in order not to lose their qualification claims. It is played against Moldova and the Faroe Islands and the technical staff knows that in these two matches 6 points are needed, otherwise it is a failure. Within the framework of the developments in the representative office, the vice-coach Pablo Zabaleta also spoke, who gave a long interview for the official website of the federation (fshf.org). While recounting his new experience, Zabaleta is impressed with everything he has found in Albania and hopes to continue here as long as possible. "I have to say the journey has been incredible, we came with Silvinho for the first time here in January. It was a beautiful experience. The new training complex, the offices, the city of Tirana, because we spend a lot of time here in Albania. The weather, the good food, the people gave us a great time. We spend hours working in the office, watching the videos of the players, because we want to get to know the Albanian players even better. Before we came, we knew some of them, but we had to prepare a big list with the names of 40 or 50 players, not only those who play abroad, but also from the Albanian championship. So in the end you have to have a final list of 23 or 26 players, but we keep a list of about 50 players under observation", says the assistant coach of the National Team. because we spend a lot of time here in Albania. The weather, the good food, the people gave us a great time. We spend hours working in the office, watching the videos of the players, because we want to get to know the Albanian players even better. Before we came, we knew some of them, but we had to prepare a big list with the names of 40 or 50 players, not only those who play abroad, but also from the Albanian championship. So in the end you have to have a final list of 23 or 26 players, but we keep a list of about 50 players under observation", says the assistant coach of the National Team. because we spend a lot of time here in Albania. The weather, the good food, the people gave us a great time. We spend hours working in the office, watching the videos of the players, because we want to get to know the Albanian players even better. Before we came, we knew some of them, but we had to prepare a big list with the names of 40 or 50 players, not only those who play abroad, but also from the Albanian championship. So in the end you have to have a final list of 23 or 26 players, but we keep a list of about 50 players under observation", says the assistant coach of the National Team. but we had to prepare a big list with the names of 40 or 50 players, not only those who play abroad, but also from the Albanian championship. So in the end you have to have a final list of 23 or 26 players, but we keep a list of about 50 players under observation", says the assistant coach of the National Team. but we had to prepare a big list with the names of 40 or 50 players, not only those who play abroad, but also from the Albanian championship. So in the end you have to have a final list of 23 or 26 players, but we keep a list of about 50 players under observation", says the assistant coach of the National Team.

Player previews and the loss to Poland

For Zabaleta, it is very important to use what was built with hard work and effort in the March challenge to continue the preparations for the two games in June, against Moldova and the Faroe Islands. "We traveled to Italy, England or Spain to meet all the players and then when the Poland game came 10 days before the challenge we selected the 23 players we thought were right for that game. It was something very nice, we worked for at least 10 days with the players and it was wonderful. It is something different when you have the players here in Tirana, you work with them most of the time on the field, you are not all the time working in the office, and the interaction between the players and the technical staff before Poland was very good. "Unfortunately, we didn't get a point against Poland," he said.

Appeal to fans

Furthermore, Zabaleta has a message for the Albanian fans at a time when the national team will soon start preparations for the two very important matches in the Euro 2024 qualifiers. The assistant coach is convinced that Albania will put on a good performance against Moldova and the fans they will create a fantastic atmosphere. "My message to the Albanian fans, I wish them to enjoy a beautiful match, we need them a lot, we need to create an atmosphere in the stadium. I watched the derby of the capital and some other matches in Albania, and I realized that the fans in Albania are similar to those in Latin America, very passionate about football. I hope to have as many fans as possible in the stadium for the next match", said Zabeleta in the end.