Sweden has medal ambitions when the World Championship begins in just over a month. But first, it's the European Championship qualification that applies to the Swedish women's handball team.
However, it was a tough qualifying match against Ukraine at Estrad in Alingsås. Not least, the Swedes had difficulty getting the attack game going.
We wanted to play in a way, but could have been more straightforward, won more duels, and got more movement in the game, says national team coach Tomas Axnér to SVT.
- They (Ukraine) are very scattered in defense and work hard, but we fall into that trap a little too many times.
When Ukraine scored the first goal of the match, on a penalty, four minutes had already passed without a Swedish goal. After just over a quarter, Axnér took a timeout – after which Sweden finally managed to take a few goals lead.
It was enough to eventually go into halftime with 16–11.
Ukraine makes a good first half, we have some problems with their offensive defensive play. But overall, I think we stand well in the back, said Nathalie Hagman to SVT during the break.
Covid chaos last time
Sweden and Ukraine last met in a double meeting in the World Championship qualification in April 2021. That time, it was first a Swedish big win in Kyiv before Sweden unexpectedly lost 22–26 at home in Lund.
But then, the entire team, including the leadership, had to be replaced due to a covid 19 case in the squad.
The covid chaos opened up for, among others, Nina Koppang, who was one of seven players who hastily and suddenly had to make their debut in the A-national team and became a five-goal scorer at the time.
Koppang became one of many Swedish goal scorers also on Thursday evening, where despite the halftime lead, it became exciting in the match again when Ukraine made five straight goals in a few minutes.
Milestone for Roberts
In the end, Sweden's routine weighed over.
And thanks to, among other things, four goals by Jamina Roberts – who in her 260th national team match thus reached 700 national team goals – it became a Swedish victory.
Sweden's European Championship qualification continues on Sunday away against Lithuania, which on Thursday evening suffered a major defeat against Serbia (33–42).
It will be the last national team match before the Swedish World Championship squad is selected on October 27.
The victory over Ukraine started the European Championship qualification for Sweden. Here are the upcoming national team matches:
October 19: Lithuania–Sweden, European Championship qualification.
November 20: Denmark–Sweden, training match.
November 22: Sweden–Denmark, training match (Halmstad).
November 27: Sweden–Czech Republic, World Championship.
November 29: Cuba–Sweden, World Championship.
December 1: Sweden–Brazil, World Championship.
