Zein’s game: “To stop the best that they can do — this is the most important”

“The game is beginning from defence. If you don't have good defence, you will never win anything. You will never win against anyone. Always beginning from defence, fast break, attack, and after, come back running, turning back and after again. The cycle of handball, for my opinion, is beginning always from the defence,” says Egypt and Dinamo Bucuresti left back Ali Zein. “But that doesn’t mean that I only like defence. Of course, I like attack.

“Like anyone, I like attacking, like scoring, playing, enjoying. I enjoy both. From the defence, I’m beginning to attack, and defence gives me more confidence.”

Zein’s focus when talking about his view of the game seems to naturally sway towards defence, which leads to the question of whether he sees himself as somehow more defensively oriented. But that is not the case, and his overview is really simply his personal summary of what it is to be a player who contributes a lot at both ends of the court.

It is not unusual for a player to have a role in both attack and defence — what is unusual for a left back nowadays is that Zein is often found in the middle block. 

“For me, it is not so easy now in the world to find someone who plays left back and defends in the middle,” says Zein, who was named MVP of the African Championship in 2018, before earning two more All-star Team nods as left back, in 2020 and 2022.

“I think this is a good advantage for any team — to have the back players that can defend in the middle. In this case, you don't need to change a lot of players to have the defence.”

For the 34-year-old, each game starts from defence. That is how he analyses upcoming opponents, and, looking at the bigger picture, that is how he has observed most coaches building their team.

“They focus so much about the defence, because it's the beginning of the cycle of how to build one team. To begin to see what are the best players together in the defence, and after we can check the attack. If he's just beginning in attack, for sure, he will not find the balance in the defence,” says Zein, before talking about how he analyses upcoming rivals.

“Always I’m beginning with watching them attacking, to understand exactly what they are doing, because in my position in the middle of the defence it is not only about one-against-one, to win that. No. You need more to understand what they are doing.

“How they are doing that and why? And what is the best actions they have? Because for me, I'm always thinking, if one good team has their best actions — like you have three, four best actions — it’s very important to stop these best actions and lead to another.”

Opponents will inevitably score some goals according to their own strengths and match plan — they will sometimes achieve exactly what the defence are focused on preventing them from doing. But the aim is to contain that as much as possible. “To stop the best that they can do — this is the most important,” says Zein.

Individually, it is about containing a player’s strengths and trying to force them to do what the defender — or defenders — coming up against them want.

“If someone comes to me one-against-one, in this case, I'm always trying to make him do what I want,” says Zein. “This is exactly what I am thinking about. And to always stop the best actions.

“Some defensive players I feel are very difficult, because they know everything, they know what I want to do, and they're trying to force me. This is the way how I feel it is difficult, so I do it when I'm in defence.

“I’m lucky that I have decent attack so I can feel the feeling. Sometimes when you are in defence you say, ‘but if you do that, he will shoot easy,’ and it’s not easy, because when I am attacking, when I do that [same thing], it’s not easy at all.”

Zein plays both the number three and two positions in defence — in the middle block and on the left back position. The middle block is of course the command tower of the defence — the core of it, defending against the easiest place from which to score. On the number two position, a lot more movement is required. 

“The difference is that you don't have so much contact during the game. You have contact but not like number three. Number two has to move with the legs more,” says Zein. “They are so important to close the court.

“He needs to see everything. He needs to see the court. He needs to know when you have to close or when you have to not close, so for me two is important but three is more difficult. If you have someone, in defence number three, next to you and he is really good you will feel better and more easier the game.”

Playing in the middle of the defence means cooperating with another core defender. Three players stand out for Zein in terms of who he has experienced the best collaboration with. 

“The best connection for me in the middle is Ibrahim Elmasry,” says Zein of his Egypt national teammate. “I learnt from him a lot. He's very, very good — not because he's strong and that. No. He's very, very good just to read the game, to read the other team, to read what they are doing.

“He begins to tell us ‘They will do that and that. Take care: Ali, block; Ali, block extra on your left; and Ali, he will come to you one-against-one. Give him the left side, not the right side.’ He is always speaking.

“This is what I like, and this is what I'm trying to learn from him because that's why he's amazing. He put us in another place in the World Championship and Olympic Games and African Championship.

“Defence next to [Ludovic] Fabregas in Barcelona was also amazing, because he's very strong, very smart, and he knows when he has to close to help you and when he doesn’t need to help you,” says Zein of his former teammate. Fabregas has since moved on to Veszprém, while Zein transferred to Dinamo in 2022, after the two raised the EHF Champions League trophy with Barça together.

According to Zein, Fabregas is one of those who have their eyes everywhere. “Always be in the middle seeing everything. Always looking left, right, up, down, in your back. This is what I like so much, and Fabregas is this kind of player in the middle.”

Another player still with Barça with whom Zein had a standout collaboration was Brazilian Thiagus Petrus. “These are the players who I defended next to in the middle where it was like, amazing,” says Zein of the three. 

And what about at the other end of the court?

“I always try to have a good contact with the pivot, because now, in attack, without a good pivot, you will never have a chance. You need to have this very, very good contact with the pivot, to create for myself a good chance to shoot and create for him good passes, to make it so the defence doesn't understand what we are doing,” says Zein.

“Also, who is in defence in the middle? How they are talking and how they are defending?” he continues, explaining how some defenders make contact in a way that renders passing to the pivot difficult, while others make passing easier but cause other problems for the attacker.

“I'm just focused about these small details because these small details make a really big difference. I’m trying to watch who has weakness in the one-against-one, to go against him. Some teams, they are always helping so fast, so you need to not keep the ball with you too much,” says Zein.

How the players in a given defence help each other has a significant impact on how the attack must work, and what kinds of passes they must make, “so you need to always have this vision.

“Always watching the wings, if they are closed or not. If they are like trying to take foul attacks or not. Because some style of the teams always have this — they are closing always, so I can pass easy. Put in my mind not just to take the foul attack but to pass the ball. Some teams, no, they don't prefer to do that, and they always give you a chance to shoot from exterior. Two days from the game, I begin to shoot so much from exterior to have this feeling.

“We play together to see they do that, so I do that. They do the best what they do, I do another thing different,” summarises Zein. “I think these small details, especially in the end of the game, always make a big difference.

“This is the difference between some players. To have these small details — to not do what is the best action you do when you are tired. Because the others, they know that and they saw it 100 times and in the end the goalkeeper knows what you will do — you will do the best shot you do, so when you change it in that time, always you have one plus for you.”

In terms of players who have inspired him the most, Zein says that Nikola Karabatic was perhaps the biggest role model when he was young, although the two are not so far apart in age — Karabatic is six years older than Zein. But the French legend was already highly visible at a critical point in Zein’s development, during his teenage years. Karabatic had won the EHF Champions League twice by the time Zein was 17.

“I like this style of the players who defend, attacking. Every team he goes he puts the team much better,” says Zein, highlighting that completeness and the “X-factor” in his game that made Karabatic one of the best ever for many. There can be great players in terms of quality who bring their talent to a team, but “some other players go to a team, and they boost the team up, and you can see that so clear. And these are the players of who there are not too many in the world.”

Karabatic ended his illustrious career after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Outside of the day-to-day work, preparation and everything running through his head in a game, Zein also prioritises enjoying his time on court, knowing that he too will one day hang up the handball shoes.

“These moments, I know that they will not come back, so I always try to enjoy the best moments, to enjoy even during the game. To have this smile. It’s something, you never forget it, and the friendship between the players is the most important thing. It’s something you remember after your career — the friendship and the success, what you did with them,” concludes Zein.

“If you have good team with very good friendship together, I think this is so good, because you will always try to fight together, to fight for each other, to fight for the team, and this is very good for anything.”

Photos © Sascha Klahn, Kolektiff Images, Mihai Neacsu, Sporting CP, Roland Peka