The national handball team has experienced a turbulent autumn after the Olympic Games failure last summer. Glenn Solberg unexpectedly stepped down as national team captain and was replaced by his former assistant, Michael Apelgren. He will combine the job in Blue and Yellow with his full-time position as head coach of the Hungarian top club Pick Szeged.
The idea when I stepped into this, which is a special solution, is that there should be a clearer apparatus around me. Right now, it's not quite built up and finished, so we're a bit naked right now, says Michael Apelgren when TT meets him at the national team's hotel in Linköping, where Sweden meets Denmark on Sunday.
Salad questions
For example, Daniel Larsson was confirmed as the new goalkeeper coach as late as on Thursday.
And we don't even have a team manager or team leader. So, there may be questions to me like "how do we do with the salad buffet, Micke?". But it will be sorted out, says Apelgren with a laugh.
The new national team captain is simultaneously serious when he notes that time is short before the World Championship, which Sweden starts against Japan in Oslo on January 16. Apelgren believes that the Swedish national handball team, which was outplayed away against France on Wednesday, goes into the World Championship as a bit of an underdog.
Unfortunately, there are many things that point in that direction. I would rather sit here and say that we are as good as France or Denmark, but we're not at the moment, says the 40-year-old Stockholm native.
We haven't had time to work on everything. Then we have a situation with many players who are not in the roles they were in two years ago in their clubs.
"Tough to be without"
In addition, there is a long list of injuries, where midfielder Felix Claar stands out. It's already clear that the injured Östergötland native will miss the World Championship.
It's clear that it's a spearhead that's tough to be without. It's about someone else taking up the challenge and making those goals that you don't get from a tactics board or teamwork, that someone simply takes the ball and does their thing. Felix is one of the world's top three best duel players, says Michael Apelgren.
After this week, Blue and Yellow won't meet again until before the World Championship.
This is a national team that hopefully looks a bit different in January, notes Apelgren.
+ Sweden took World Championship silver in 2021, European Championship gold in 2022, and European Championship bronze at the beginning of this year. But in the Olympic Games last summer, the team was eliminated in the quarterfinals and missed a medal.
+ Michael Apelgren has taken over after Glenn Solberg and has Patrik Fahlgren as assistant national team captain.
+ This week, Sweden plays against France (loss 31–37) and Denmark (Linköping, Sunday) in the EHF Euro Cup in the autumn's only national team matches.
+ A number of established national team players are missing against Denmark: Felix Claar is injured, Daniel Pettersson has had concussion problems, Lukas Sandell and Max Darj declined the gathering due to injuries, Eric Johansson will become a father, Lucas Pellas pulled out of the back of his leg against France, and Oscar Bergendahl has ended the gathering due to a viral infection.
