Three right backs that can lift their teams at the EHF EURO 2018
Three right backs that can lift their teams at the EHF EURO 2018
It can be difficult to fill the right back position – but when the right choice is made, they are tough to defend against and key to any team’s success.
The three right backs highlighted here demonstrate the qualities needed to succeed in this role.
Alexandra Lacrabere, France
France’s success over the past two decades, with three bronze medals at the Women’s EHF European Championships, two gold medals at the World Championships and a silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, has relied heavily on the French side being a team, rather than a collection of individual players.
However, there are still exceptions and Alexandra Lacrabere has been an integral part of Les Bleues in the past few years, scoring 717 goals over 214 games for the French national side. Only three players, including left wing Siraba Dembele, have scored more in the team’s history, and Lacrabere will yet again be one of the dominant forces in Olivier Krumbholz’s back line.
A typical left-handed right back, with a powerful shot, a good physical presence and a great team spirit, Lacrabere has been one of the top two French scorers in the past four final tournaments, including being the top scorer for France in the 2016 Olympic Games and the 2017 World Championships.
Lacrabere is not playing in the Women’s EHF Champions League this season, after signing for Fleury after Vardar folded, but scored 48 goals in eight games for her side in the French league.
Ana Gros, Slovenia
Scoring 73, 84 and 74 goals in three different seasons in the Women’s EHF Champions League is no easy feat for any player. In fact there are only three – Andrea Penezic, Cristina Neagu and Nora Mork – who have managed this feat in three of the past four seasons.
Yet Ana Gros shows no signs of stopping in the European premium club competition and looks forward to emulate those performances in the Slovenian national shirt.
The 27-year old right back looks to have reached the pinnacle of her career. Her steady hand led Metz Handball to the quarter-final phase of the Women’s EHF Champions League last season and is creating a formidable partnership with Isabelle Gullden for Brest Bretagne Handball this year. She has been key to Brest’s success with 44 goals so far this season.
Gros is also the top scorer in the French league this season with 75 goals in 10 matches. She has played in the league since 2013, and will certainly feel at home at the EHF EURO 2018.
The right back was superb at last year’s World Championship, when she had the second-best goals per game average of 7.1, behind only Mork, who scored 7.3 goals per game. Slovenia will certainly need more of the same if they are to progress from a tough group that also features France, Montenegro and Russia.
Anna Vyakhireva, Russia
Named the EHF Player of the Month for October, the 23-year old Vyakhireva has long established herself as one of the best right backs in the world and is a stalwart for the Russian side, for whom she scored 302 goals in 71 games.
Evgenii Trefilov’s side has had a reputation as a sturdy, powerful, physical team, yet Vyakhireva is just 1.68m tall, the same height as her older sister, Polina, who is a left wing. Despite this Trefilov put Vyakhireva in his line-up when she was only 17, after she had starring for the youth and junior Russian teams.
A versatile player – she won the all-star centre back at the Women’s 17 EHF EURO in 2009 and the all-star right wing at the Women’s 17 EHF EURO in 2011 – Vyakhireva switched to right back in 2015 and never looked back. Her creativity, speed and intelligence are the biggest weapons in an arsenal that also boasts a powerful shot.
Winning the gold medal and the MVP title at the Olympic Games in 2016 was certainly the pinnacle of her short career, but Vyakhireva aims for more, having never before won a medal at the Women’s EHF European Championships.
