Within the quiet corridors of a lodge in Tbilisi this week, a tall, sturdy man with the targeted gaze of a veteran commander paces the ground.
David Pisonero is 4,200 kilometers away from his dwelling in Valladolid, Spain, however his thoughts is occupied by a singular, complicated mission: main the Israeli Nationwide Handball workforce by way of a gauntlet of battle, displacement, and a determined drought of worldwide success.
On Sunday morning, the Israeli squad took off for Georgia to face the native nationwide workforce in a vital double-header for the second spherical of the World Cup qualifiers. The stakes are set for 2 decisive afternoon clashes: the primary leg on Thursday at 4 p.m. Israel time, adopted by the second leg on Saturday at 2 p.m. Israel time. It’s a mission born of necessity and resilience.
Operation Roaring Lion shifts the goalposts for matches in Israel
Whereas the European Handball Federation (EHF) had briefly flirted with returning matches to Israeli soil, the continued “Roaring Lion” battle shifted the goalposts as soon as once more. Now, Israel should search its “dwelling” on overseas floor, counting on a 52-year-old Spanish architect to construct a basis amidst the ruins of a disrupted season.
Pisonero’s relationship with Israeli handball started in a really completely different diplomatic local weather. He formally signed his contract with the Israel Handball Affiliation in September 2024, a transfer that predated the latest and extreme cooling of relations between Madrid and Jerusalem. Since his signing, the political panorama has shifted dramatically, culminating in Spain’s historic low of recalling its ambassador from Israel.
But, regardless of the diplomatic storm and the strain of being a distinguished Spaniard representing an Israeli nationwide image, Pisonero has remained steadfast.
His deep roots within the sport have been handed right down to the subsequent era. Pisonero is a father of two, each of whom excel on the highest ranges of Spanish handball. His 21-year-old son is a medical scholar who performs professionally underneath his father’s steerage at Valladolid and is a member of the Spanish Underneath-21 nationwide workforce. His 15-year-old daughter is already a rising expertise within the Spanish youth nationwide workforce. For a coach whose personal kids put on the “La Roja” jersey, the choice to guide the blue-and-white squad throughout a peak of worldwide pressure is a strong testomony to his sporting integrity. In a world the place geopolitical friction typically bleeds into the world, Pisonero’s dedication to his September pledge serves as a uncommon bridge between two nations at the moment at odds.
Pisonero is a person dwelling a frantic, high-stakes double life. Simply days in the past, he was on the sidelines main his membership workforce, Recoletas Atlético Valladolid, towards the juggernaut of FC Barcelona within the Copa de España last. Although they fell 32-24, Pisonero’s inventory has by no means been increased. Through the post-match evaluation, he mirrored on the sheer bodily problem of dealing with elite rotations, noting how the fixed strain and contemporary legs of a top-tier opponent act as a relentless power that finally grinds down any protection. It’s this precise degree of sustained depth he’s now attempting to transplant into the Israeli DNA.
“I’m the coach of my city, my workforce,” Pisonero tells me, reflecting on his decade-long tenure at Valladolid. “However when Israel supplied me this, I noticed a giant likelihood. Staying energetic in Liga ASOBAL, the most effective leagues on the planet, offers me a sharper edge. I carry the very best degree of European handball on to the Israeli locker room each time I step off a airplane. You can’t educate fashionable handball from a textbook; it’s important to stay it each weekend towards groups like Barcelona.”
His résumé is a testomony to the “Spanish Faculty” of handball that has conquered the globe. A former pivot who reached the head of membership handball by successful the IHF Tremendous Globe (Membership World Championship) in 1997 with Cantabria Santander, Pisonero finally took the reins at RK Vardar Skopje. His time in North Macedonia was a baptism by fireplace, managing probably the most risky and demanding fan bases in Europe.
“In Skopje, I discovered learn how to deal with the load of a nation’s expectations,” he notes. “That have is important now, as a result of the Israeli sports activities tradition shares that very same Mediterranean warmth, the fervour, the strain, and absolutely the refusal to just accept defeat.”
“I’m completely disconnected from the headlines,” he says firmly when requested in regards to the recall of the Spanish ambassador. “I’m a coach. My opinion on politics is just not vital. Once I advised my household I used to be taking the job again in September 2024, they trusted me. They felt my consolation. My household, my spouse and children, they see this by way of my eyes. They aren’t confused as a result of they see the dedication of the gamers and the professionalism of the Israeli federation. For us, the courtroom is the one territory that issues.”
This disconnect is important. For Israel, handball has reached a crossroads. The nationwide workforce hasn’t reached a serious event because the 2002 European Championships in Sweden. For practically a quarter-century, the “lacking ingredient” has eluded them, and Pisonero believes the difficulty is as a lot about tactical maturity as it’s about bodily preparation.
Pisonero’s evaluation of the Israeli participant is a mix of admiration and medical evaluation.
“There’s a ‘spirit’ in Israel that you simply don’t discover in lots of locations,” he says. “These guys are fighters by nature. They’re powerful, they’re aggressive, they usually have a pure expertise for direct, fast-paced handball. However expertise with out rhythm is sort of a automobile with out gas.
“I’ve been delighted with them in each coaching session,” he continues. “They’re so concentrated, so targeted. However I’ve advised them: you can’t simply play together with your coronary heart; you will need to play together with your head. We’re engaged on ‘the meter and the second,’ the small particulars that outline high-level European matches. The Israeli participant tends to be very emotional on the courtroom. My job is to take that fireplace and channel it right into a inflexible tactical system.”
To bridge the hole brought on by the home league’s hiatus, Pisonero is leaning closely on his “Legionnaires.” Key to this mission is Yahav Shamir, the standout goalkeeper enjoying for Hüttenberg within the 2. Handball-Bundesliga.
“Yahav is our spine,” Pisonero says. “In Germany, he faces world-class shooters each week. That offers him a psychological benefit that filters right down to our protection. He isn’t intimidated by anybody.”
He’s joined by Daniel Mosindi, the versatile expertise who performs for the Hungarian powerhouse Tatabánya, and Yoav Lumbroso of Dinamo Bucharest.
“These gamers are the bridge,” Pisonero explains. “Lumbroso has been in Europe for eight seasons. He understands that the distinction between a win and a loss within the Champions League is commonly a single appropriate resolution made underneath excessive fatigue. Daniel Mosindi brings that very same European bodily edge. They’re the leaders as a result of they’ve the rhythm that the native gamers, by way of no fault of their very own, have misplaced throughout the battle.”
The fast job is Georgia, a workforce Pisonero describes as bodily and harmful. He identifies their major risk as Giorgi Tskhovrebadze, the prolific proper again who at the moment stars for RK Zagreb.
“Tskhovrebadze is a world-class expertise,” Pisonero warns. “He’s enjoying on the highest degree in Croatia and the Champions League. He’s the type of participant who can rating double-figure targets a sport in the event you give him an inch of area. Our whole defensive scheme is constructed round neutralizing him.”
“However I would like the main target to be on us,” he provides. “The massive downside we have now is the shortage of competitors for the native guys. They want the ‘knowledge’ of the sport that solely comes from enjoying 60 minutes of high-intensity handball. We now have labored quite a bit on our protection. Within the final qualifiers, Israel missed out by simply two targets. It was heartbreakingly shut. We should bear in mind the sensation of these matches in Serbia and Poland, the grit we confirmed away from dwelling. We’re primarily enjoying two ‘away’ video games right here in Tbilisi, so psychological toughness is an important high quality they will carry to the courtroom.”
Past Georgia looms a state of affairs that feels scripted for a sports activities film. If Israel overcomes this spherical, the ultimate hurdle for the World Cup will probably be Pisonero’s own residence: Spain. Dealing with “Los Hispanos,” the two-time World and European champions, can be the final word take a look at {of professional} loyalty.
“I want we may speak about that match as a result of it could imply we succeeded right here,” Pisonero says with a wistful smile. “Knocking out the world’s biggest big, which can be my dwelling? It might be wonderful. It might show that Israel is lastly preventing among the many elite. My intimate information of the Spanish system would definitely be a ‘secret weapon,’ however let’s be real looking, the hole is large. Nevertheless, the one method to shut that hole is to face it head-on.”
Pisonero is a agency believer within the “Iceland Mannequin,” the concept that a small nation can change into a handball superpower by way of constant teaching and exporting gamers to prime leagues.
“I see the potential within the Underneath-21s,” he says. “The brand new expertise in Israel is actual. They’re powerful, they’ve character. However we have to hold sending them to Europe. We want extra gamers in Germany, France, and Spain. That’s the solely method to make Israel a constant presence within the Euros and World Cups.”
Because the Israeli delegation settles into Tbilisi, the window represents greater than only a qualifying spherical; it’s a likelihood for a brand new narrative for a sport that has lengthy lived within the shadow of soccer and basketball.
“Once I stand on the sidelines on Thursday, and the Israeli anthem performs, it received’t be about politics for me,” Pisonero concludes. “It is going to be in regards to the gamers in that locker room who’ve sacrificed a lot to be right here. My message to the followers again dwelling is easy: Take pleasure in. It is a massive second for Israeli handball. We’re going to present what we wish and what we are able to obtain. Let’s go, let’s play, and let’s benefit from the battle.”
Whether or not the Spanish architect can lastly lead Israel throughout the edge of a serious event stays to be seen. However within the chilly air of Georgia, David Pisonero is already laying the bricks, one tactical drill at a time, constructing a home that he hopes will lastly stand the take a look at of time.
