On January 17, Sweden will play against the Netherlands in the European Championship group stage in Malmö.
Will Andreas Palicka be part of the blue and yellow squad then?
Goalkeeper veteran hopes so, but the situation is uncertain due to the elbow injury that has kept him away from play since the end of September.
I am realistically positive that I will be in physical shape and ready to be one of the players who will be selected for the European Championship, says Palicka.
No Superman
At the same time, he notes, with less than two months to go until the squad selection on December 8:
I am 39 years old and my body does not behave like when I was 21 anymore. You can't be on a superman level "24/7". It can be hard to accept sometimes, but you have to show respect for that.
Otherwise, Andreas Palicka is at least secretive about the injury he sustained when his Kolstad met Kristiansand in the Norwegian league.
How is the elbow? What does the rehab training look like? When can he play handball again?
In all cases, the answers are vague from the otherwise so talkative Skåne resident.
That's how I want it. Do you think I'm boring now? says Palicka with a laugh.
"Air under the wings"
In his absence, three other foreign pros - Tobias Thulin, 30, Fabian Norsten, 25, and Simon Möller, 25 - were selected for the squad for the home international matches against Spain at the turn of the month October-November last week.
They have taken big steps in their international careers and are also taking their place in the national team. The breadth has become broader, says Palicka about the blue and yellow goalkeeper situation.
He also looks positively at Sweden's chances in the European Championship - despite the fiasco and 14th place in the World Championship at the beginning of the year.
We know very well what happened in Norway in January. It's been a long time since we went through a championship where so much didn't work. But we had an extremely good gathering at the end of last season, where you started to see the team's full potential again. It gave air under the wings.
