“We had more nerve in the main round”
Updated 09.30 | Published 08.53
GOTHENBURG. Sweden was not alone in running over its opponent when the intermediate round began.
Now Tomas Axnér has a solution to the problem:
Fewer teams for the intermediate round and more for the consolation tournament Presidents Cup.
Yesterday, Sweden entered the intermediate round (main round, in official handball parlance) of the World Cup and they did so by outclassing very weak Cameroon by a whopping 37-13. Cameroon, who only needed to beat even weaker Paraguay to advance to the intermediate round, could not even field a full team after two players defected from the squad.
– It is clear that they do not quite measure up. Now they have some players who couldn’t be there or who they lost along the way and who may have made them a little worse, says national team captain Tomas Axnér.
– Of course there are European teams that are not in the championship but had beaten Cameroon comfortably.
“Keep two balls in the air”
But Sweden was not alone in winning in knockout style.
In eight of the twelve matches in the first round of the intermediate round, one team won easily.
The reason why there is such a big difference between many of the teams is of course the increase in the number of teams before the last World Cup, from 24 to 32.
And the current format means that 24 of the 32 teams advance to the intermediate round while the other eight get to play the consolation tournament Presidents Cup.
– But we have just talked about Japan beating Denmark. So you have to keep two balls in the air at the same time, says Axnér.
Sportbladet argued in a column yesterday that the expansion to 32 teams has watered down the middle round of the World Cup.
Axnér has always defended the expansion and everyone realizes that the international confederation will never ever change its mind and reduce the number of teams in the World Cup.
“Make the President’s Cup bigger”
But the Swedish national team captain has a suggestion on how to raise the quality of the intermediate round and simply get more even matches at this stage of the tournament.
– You could make the Presidents Cup bigger and have a few more teams there, he says.
Two teams to the intermediate round from each group in the opening group stage instead of three and the rest to the Presidents Cup?
– Then you have to have the right number of matches as well. So it might be the round of 16.
He continues:
– I saw that Congo and Kazakhstan finished 37-36 in the Presidents Cup. These teams need to play those kinds of games. You also learn a lot from that. Then there is what the Cameroonians said at the press conference, that it is great for them to meet us to find out where the level is.
But they will find out in the first group stage, won’t they?
– Yes, I think my proposal would have been good. Then we would have had more even matches and more nerve in the main round.
full screenTomas Axnér Photo: Mathias Bergeld / Bildbyrån
“Keep two balls in the air”
But Sweden was not alone in winning in knockout style.
In eight of the twelve games in the first round of the intermediate round, one team won easily.
The reason why there is such a big difference between many of the teams is of course the increase in the number of teams before the last World Cup, from 24 to 32.
And the current format means that 24 of the 32 teams advance to the intermediate round while the other eight get to play the consolation tournament Presidents Cup.
– But we have just talked about Japan beating Denmark. So you have to keep two balls in the air at the same time, says Axnér.
Sportbladet argued in a column yesterday that the expansion to 32 teams has watered down the middle round of the World Cup.
Axnér has always defended the expansion and everyone realizes that the international confederation will never ever change its mind and reduce the number of teams in the World Cup.
full screen Sweden crushed Cameroon in the first match of the intermediate round. Photo: Mathias Bergeld / Bildbyrån
“Make the President’s Cup bigger”
But the Swedish national team captain has a suggestion on how to raise the quality of the intermediate round and simply get more even matches at this stage of the tournament.
– You could make the Presidents Cup bigger and have a few more teams there, he says.
Two teams to the intermediate round from each group in the opening group stage instead of three and the rest to the Presidents Cup?
– Then you have to have the right number of matches as well. So it might be the round of 16.
He continues:
– I saw that Congo and Kazakhstan finished 37-36 in the Presidents Cup. These teams need to play those kinds of games. You also learn a lot from that. Then there is what the Cameroonians said at the press conference, that it is great for them to meet us to find out where the level is.
But they will find out in the first group stage, won’t they?
– Yes, I think my proposal would have been good. Then we would have had more even matches and more nerve in the main round.
2023-12-08 07:53:45
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