The Swedish men’s handball national team sharpened their Olympic form with a final training international match against Denmark.
A replay of the World Cup final earlier this year where Denmark won the gold and again this time it was Denmark who emerged victorious from the battle.
But it stayed a tight event and national team captain Glenn Solberg liked what he saw.
– I am happy with a lot, we make a good handball match at a high pace. It is a strength that we have such a good team that can play evenly with Denmark over 60 minutes, he says at the digital press conference after the match.
Blue-yellow started strong and led at most by a margin of five goals. Hampus Wanne was, just like in the World Cup, one of the Swedish keys offensively and accounted for five goals.
Danish national team captain gathered their crew and roared away properly whereupon the reigning world champions came to life.
There was no shortage of chances to compete for Denmark, which was awarded a number of penalties. But the Swedish goalkeeper duo with Andreas Palicka and Mikael Aggefors ensured that the lead remained fairly intact in the first half.
Denmark continued at a high pace in the second half and finally turned the match around. Many thanks to superstar Mikkel Hansen and right-winger Mathias Gidsel who scored seven goals each.
Sweden never succeeded get in the race again and the match ended 31-30 for the Danes.
Midfielder Jim Gottfridsson left the match early, seemingly lame, but national team captain Solberg is not worried about his participation in the Olympics.
– I have talked to the medical team and it does not seem to be anything serious. It will be a huge pain when it comes, but I think we will get it under control, he says.
The handball national team’s training camp in Ystad is now suffering towards the end and on Wednesday, departure to Fukuoka in Japan awaits, where a new camp and a training international match against Norway are expected.
– I am very happy with what we saw in the training. Very good attitude, effort and quality, so it feels very good, says Solberg.
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