Sweden, 25th in the world rankings, was a clear underdog against 13th-ranked Germany. And the quality difference between the teams was evident immediately when Germany took the lead with 16–2 just a few minutes into the match. After that, it flowed on for the Germans, who won the first period with 27–16.
We did not get in and strike first. That did Germany and they struck hard. We had no team play, it was chaos, said Sweden's Nathalie Fontaine.
Missed stars
Germany missed several of its biggest stars, such as center Marie Gülich and sisters Nyara and Satou Sabally, who play in the American professional league WNBA.
But the trio's absence did not seem to affect Germany in the first half of the match, which they totally dominated. At halftime, the score was 44–27 in Germany's favor.
It felt completely cool during the day and the atmosphere was positive. We sank too low and had no movement. I do not know if we were not mentally ready or something, continued Fontaine.
Played up
In the second half of the match, Sweden played up significantly, but when Germany still managed to make 31 points in the last period, it was a small consolation.
One cannot afford to end up in such an uphill struggle against such a good team. I do not know how the match would have looked if we had played as we should in all four quarters.
The second match in Sweden's group between Great Britain and Spain ended 85–70 in favor of the Spaniards.
Sweden's group has been described as the "group of death" and next awaits a key match against Great Britain on Midsummer Eve. After that, they will face one of the big favorites for the entire championship – world fifth Spain – in the last group match.
